It Worked Out For You
by VFFW
Summary: Rick and company leave Alexandria (not by choice) to find a new place, minus some important members, but can they learn to live a real life during the WA?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: A sequel of sorts to Lucky. This story is Rick and company centric with OC's. Some elements from the comics and some elements from the show mixed together with some elements from me.**

* * *

Rick Grimes shook his head as he surveyed the destruction of Alexandria.

"What are we going to do, Dad?" Carl's worried question brought Rick up short.

Rick had no idea what they were going to do. He looked at the three people who were standing with him. "I don't know, Carl. I don't know." He sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Hilltop," he wheezed out, bent over holding his ribs. He knew they were bruised. Carl helped him into the back seat of the only car they had left, then held his own arm, Abraham was driving, Sasha and Aaron up front.

"You alright, Carl?" he croaked out.

Carl nodded and wiped his eyes. "Fine, Dad. Let's get to Hilltop. We can stay with Maggie while we decide what to do."

He hoped they were okay.

* * *

Glenn watched as Maggie kneeled on the ground crying at the destruction of Hilltop. He wanted to join her. His and Maggie's relationship had been strained ever since she'd backed Rick when he and Carol were going to take over Alexandria. He almost didn't go with her to Hilltop, but he was still so pissed at Rick. He turned, knife out, when he heard a car. He kept it out even when he saw Sasha, Aaron and Abraham walk over.

"Shit," Abraham shouted.

"Alexandria?"

"The same," Sasha admitted.

The flames were getting higher, attracting a lot of walker attention. "We need to go."

"Where?" Sasha shouted in anger.

"The Kingdom," he sneered. He left and walked over to his wife. "We need to go, Maggie."

She looked up with tears falling on her cheeks. "Where?" she repeated Sasha's question.

"The Kingdom. Maybe this didn't happen to Ezekiel." He held out his hand and she grabbed on tight.

"Okay. Maybe."

He jerked his head in the direction of the car to Jesus, the only other person they'd seen, alive, from Hilltop. Rick looked like he'd been hurt. Carl sat on Jesus's lap like Maggie was on his. As they drove away he put his head against Maggie's back and watched Jesus as he looked out the back window at a destroyed Hilltop.

* * *

"What the fuck," Sasha screamed as they sat in the car outside the gates of a burning Kingdom.

"Shit," Aaron shouted from beside her.

"Negan," Abraham growled.

"This wasn't Negan," Jesus snarled. "He needed us. Cowed and giving him food."

"He's right," Rick grunted. "He'd kill us, one at a time to prove he could, but he needed us."

"What are we gonna do?" Maggie whispered.

"We need to make a decision. Soon," Aaron pointed to the walkers that were now becoming interested in their car.

"Oh god," Sasha hissed.

"Dad," Carl yelled.

Abraham was out of the car and stabbed the walker in the head before he headed back to the car. "We gonna."

"Yeah," Rick cut him off. "When they go away. Just…drive, Abraham. Find someplace. We'll come back, see what we can scavenge."

"Then what, Rick?" Sasha turned with a sneer.

"I don't know, Sasha," Rick shouted back.

"Hey, I'm right here," Aaron raised his voice. "There's no need to yell." He closed his eyes and sighed. "Look, we're all just."

"We're pissed," Jesus cut him off sharply. "This? Screaming at each other? This isn't helping. Right now, we need to find a place, relatively safe, wait a few days and then go back to Hilltop, Alexandria and here. See what we can find. Then we need to think of something."

* * *

Abraham drove. As he looked for a place, he huffed out a harsh laugh, causing Sasha to side eye him. He ignored her. When he saw a sign for West Springfield he turned off. "Almost out of gas," he said. At the first hotel he saw he pulled in and got out of the car. He didn't wait for the others before heading to the lobby doors. Knocking, he saw a few walkers coming his way. He opened the door and shot them both.

"Abraham," Maggie hissed.

"Dead, aren't they?" he sneered and stomped inside.

* * *

"What are we going to do, Dad?" Carl whispered to his father in the dark. Glenn, Aaron and Jesus had cleared out a few rooms for them. After Aaron wrapped his dad's ribs and his arm with some towels, they each got in a bed.

"I don't know, Carl," his dad said again.

Carl was tired. He'd lost his mom, his sister. He'd almost lost his dad. He didn't want to be alone, but he was so tired of fighting.

"Do you think we should just kill ourselves?"

"What?"

Carl heard the other bed creak and knew his dad was either looking at him or sitting up and looking at him.

"Do you think we should just kill ourselves?" he repeated his question. "We could be with mom, like Judith."

"No, Carl, we shouldn't just kill ourselves," his dad whispered then sniffed. He knew his dad was crying. "This? This is bad, son, but we can't give up."

He sat up and looked in the direction his dad's voice was coming from. "Why not? We lost the quarry, we lost the prison and now we lost Alexandria. We lost Judith," he shouted. Then he started crying. The next thing he knew his dad was hugging him and Carl felt tears, from his dad, in his hair.

"I know this is hard, Carl, and there's nothang I can say or do to make it better. We can't just give up." He kissed Carl's head. "Your mom, she said you'd beat this world. Maggie told me," his dad hugged him harder when he twitched. "You are smart, strong and brave, Carl." His dad sniffed again. "I know I haven't been the best father to you, Carl. I made mistakes. But doing anythang I could to keep you and your sister alive, those weren't mistakes."

"Judith," he sniffled.

"Yeah. Judith. I'm sorry I couldn't, didn't, do everythang I could to keep her with us. I tried my hardest. I did. You did, too. It wasn't enough. We can't give up now. We need to be strong for each other. For your mom. For Judith."

Carl hugged his dad and they both cried themselves to sleep.

* * *

"Glenn?" Maggie whispered.

"Maggie?"

"What are we gonna do now?"

Maggie had cried her tears until she didn't have any left. Was it worth it to keep goin'? To lose constantly? Every time they made a home they lost it. She was so tired of losing. Her daddy, Beth, Shawn, Otis, Annette, the farm, the prison, Ty, Bob, Judith, Hilltop.

"I…don't know," he whispered back before he pulled her in arms and held her tight.

"Should we even try anymore?"

"Yes, Maggie, we should. We will. Maybe we should go back to the prison," Glenn suggested.

"I…couldn't, Glenn. Not after Daddy. Beth."

"We'll figure something out, but we shouldn't give up, Maggie. Hershel wouldn't want you to think like that."

"I don't know what to do anymore, Glenn."

"Live, Maggie. It's all we can do. Live."

* * *

"What should we do?" Sasha asked quietly. She and Abraham were sharing a room. She didn't want to be alone, but she didn't want to be with the others. Abraham was her choice.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I'd like to kill Eugene," he continued after a few minutes of silence.

She snorted. "Any particular reason or just because he went with Negan?"

"If I hadn't fallen for his bullshit I could be with my wife and kids right now."

She inhaled sharply. She'd thought of killing herself. After Ty. When the Wolves had almost destroyed Alexandria she got angry. It was her home, even though those people were weak and clueless. After Negan, when he killed Eric and Nicholas, she thought about it again. Then she got angry. She didn't have any anger or care anymore. She was empty. Going through the motions. Breathing because it was habit. They were the walking dead Rick had called them in the barn. Daryl hadn't known what the hell he was talking about.

* * *

"Any ideas?" Aaron asked Jesus, who was in the other bed. They'd decided to share a room. This was hard on everyone and as much as he wanted to yell, too, it wouldn't do any good.

Jesus sighed. "I…don't want to stay around here."

"Mm." He rolled to his side, faced the other bed and was grateful for the dark. "I don't either."

"Even if we find more people, Aaron, Hilltop was on fire," he shouted. "The Kingdom and Alexandria. We, it would be tough, to try and rebuild. Negan." He barked out a harsh laugh. "I hope this happened to him, too."

Aaron could get behind that.

* * *

Glenn made sure Maggie was sleeping when he got out of bed. He hoped he wouldn't see any of the others right now. He needed to be alone for a minute. As he made his way to the lobby he ducked behind the front desk and searched, coming up empty. They needed to find something to drink, at the very least. He remembered walking from Terminus with no water, eating dog. Until Aaron found them.

He knocked on the employee door, didn't hear anything and went inside. Empty. Like everything else. Closing it, he sagged to the floor, his back against the door and cried a little. He didn't know what to do anymore. Maybe Maggie was right and they should just…end it. The loss. The pain. He hadn't killed many people, he didn't want to kill people but he couldn't bring himself to commit suicide. This. It couldn't be like this all over. It couldn't.

There had to be places, civilized places, almost like Alexandria, out there. The Saviors, Wolves and Termites couldn't be all that was left. He wiped his eyes and pulled out the pocket watch Hershel had given him. "I don't know what to do anymore, Hershel." He sighed. "I'm tired. I'm tired of it all. I know you'd say to keep going. I don't know if it's worth it anymore."

It was a good thing he didn't expect an answer because he didn't get one.

* * *

Jesus stopped when he reached the lobby and heard a noise behind the front desk. Pulling his knife he went around and knocked on the door. The noise stopped and the knob turned. He was surprised to see Glenn. He noticed the red eyes but didn't comment.

Glenn cleared his throat. "Uh, nothing in there."

Jesus put his knife away. "We need to find something to drink."

"Yeah. Maybe try more rooms?"

"Worth a shot. I don't think we'll find much."

Glenn cleared his throat. "Maybe we won't, but we should still try."

He nodded and started down the hall opposite the one he came from. After searching ten rooms he and Glenn found two bottles of water and a bag of stale pretzels. He and Glenn took a few sips from one of the waters and headed back to the lobby. When they made it back Jesus saw the rest of them waiting.

"Where's Glenn?" Maggie asked in a panicked voice.

He turned and Glenn wasn't behind him.

"Glenn?" Maggie yelled.

"I'm right here, Maggie," his voice came from the hall and Maggie ran.

* * *

Glenn stared at the brochures before he tentatively touched one for Colonial Williamsburg.

"Glenn?" Maggie ran right into him and crushed him in a hug. "Don't do that," her muffled voice begged.

He mumbled a response of some type as he grabbed more brochures. He took one of everyone he saw.

"What are you doin'?" Maggie out her chin on his shoulder and watched as he did.

"Trying to come up with ideas where we can go."

"You don't want to go back?" she questioned hesitantly.

After grabbing them all he turned to face her. "I will if you want, Maggie. Even if this didn't happen to the Saviors, if we stay will anything change? Will it be worse?"

She didn't answer.

He smiled a little and put his arm around her shoulder. "Come on, let's go figure out what we're going to do."

When they joined the others Glenn waived around the brochures.

"You want to go on vacation?" Sasha shouted.

He frowned at her. "No. I mean yes, vacation sounds fantastic, Sasha," he scoffed. "We're going to follow Daryl."

"What?" Abraham yelled.

"Who's Daryl?" Jesus asked as he took a few brochures.

* * *

"We don't know if he made it, Glenn," Rick growled.

"And you're an idiot, Rick. If anyone made it, it would be Daryl and Michonne," Glenn snapped.

"You really think Michonne made it?" Carl croaked.

"Who's Michonne?" Jesus asked as he passed some of the brochures to Aaron. Aaron took a few and studiously ignored the others.

"Glenn's right, Rick," Maggie admitted in a small voice.

"You think they'll help us?" Carl looked at him.

"If," Sasha sneered, "they did make it and we could even find them after all this time, would they? I wouldn't help us," she ended with a hiss.

"Daryl's a good guy." Glenn shrugged. "Maybe." He glared at Rick. "What you wanted to do in Alexandria was stupid, Rick. Maybe we should try something else." Glenn seemed to deflate. It was the only word that fit and it scared Rick. He'd, after he'd come to his senses, after losing Judith, counted on Glenn to keep his head on straight. When him and Maggie left and started running Hilltop, he knew he could count on Glenn to keep them all going.

"Michonne liked Carl, Rick. If," Maggie stressed, "if they made it and if," she stressed again, "we can find them, I think she would. For Carl."

Jesus stared hard at all of them. "Who are Daryl and Michonne?"

"They used to be part of our group," Rick gritted out.

"Daryl's a good guy," Aaron finally spoke up. "I didn't know Michonne that well."

"Michonne left. My dad kicked Daryl out," Carl murmured.

* * *

Jesus raised his eyebrows. "Okay. I don't think I want to know."

"When we first got to Alexandria we…had some problems," Sasha said.

"That's a word," Aaron sneered at her and Jesus took a step back. He'd, not that he spent a lot of time with Aaron, but the guy seemed pretty laid back for living at the end of the world.

"No one carried anything for protection," Maggie said.

"Rick and Carol were going to take over," Aaron raised his voice.

"How?"

"I told him," Glenn cut Rick off. "He was one of the only ones that knew what it was like. I asked him to talk to Deanna."

Jesus saw Maggie look at the floor, Sasha stomped off, Abraham just watched and Rick? He was frowning at Glenn.

"It didn't work out. Other things happened," Glenn finished.

"Okay. Well if I was this Daryl guy I wouldn't help us either." Jesus looked the group that had a shitload of baggage. He had his own baggage, he shouldn't throw stones. "How do you know he found these? I mean, it's smart if you think about it. No one was vacationing. Some of these are good," he looked at what he had in his hand. "Assateague Island? They had horses. It may still have horses."

"He pulled them out of his saddlebags," Sasha snarled when she stomped back over, hands clenched into fists.

"I went and picked some of them up," Glenn was practically glaring at Rick now.

Rick looked hurt.

He lowered his eyebrows. "You know what? This is hard on everyone. I suggest we all take a deep breath and let go of the attitudes. It won't help. Anyone," he aimed at Sasha. "We found two bottles of water and pretzels. If Rick wants to go back and bury Carol then we should decide what we're going to do after."

"Are these the same?" Aaron waved the ones in his hand at Glenn.

"I'm sure some of them are. I don't know if I got them all. They're gone now," he said.

Jesus looked at the brochures he was still holding. "I think we should look these over. Take out the national monuments, maybe. They'd be too open. Maybe a museum?"

"Something along the Appalachian Trail?" Aaron suggested.

"Mountains? Shit. I should've thought of that," he snorted.

* * *

"Mountains are a good idea," Abraham seconded. It had been the only thing he'd contributed to the clusterfuck that was the current situation. "The terrain. Walkers aren't that coordinated."

"Could a tank get up to the mountains?" Carl asked.

His narrowed his eyes. "On a road, sure. Through woods? Dangerous if the terrain's steep. A good tank driver? Maybe. I doubt it. Too chancy."

Maggie took the brochures in Glenn's hand and put them on the front desk. "Let's look through these, go back, bury Carol and try and salvage something."

"It won't be better anywhere else, Maggie," Sasha retorted.

"Then stay here, Sasha," Glenn replied calmly. "I refuse to believe that everyone left on the damn planet is like the Termites or the Saviors or the Wolves or the Governor. Not everyone is like that. Hilltop people weren't like that. Yeah, they had a few assholes. The Kingdom. Carol seemed to like it there. And those are just the ones around here. There has to be other places in this entire fucking country that are trying to survive. Without assholes. Have we had shit luck? We have. Maybe, now that we have some time to think things out, we can decide where those people might be," he ended in a shout. "But if you don't have anything constructive to add to this conversation, keep your fucking mouth shut!"

Abraham doubted it. "Maybe we could stay around here," he suggested.

* * *

"No, not around here," Carl pleaded. "What about the prison? We were happy there. Before the Governor."

Maggie choked out a sob. "I couldn't, Carl. Daddy."

He could understand. It's why he didn't want to stay around here. Judith. He didn't know where Enid was. Maggie and Glenn didn't say. She was dead, too. "King County?" he looked at his dad. "Morgan? He had all those spikes, Dad."

"Too far, Carl," his dad replied as he patted Carl's shoulder.

Carl knew it was a long shot. He knew their house burned down, but he'd been happy there, too. Him, his mom, his dad. Shane, before he went crazy. Before his dad got shot. Before this.

* * *

"I don't know this Daryl guy, but I think he's pretty damn smart," Jesus commented.

Aaron had a ghost of a smile on his face. He'd never thought Daryl was smart in a strategic sense, but he was a good man. "You think he's alive?"

"Him and Michonne? Yes, they're alive. Daryl's with her," Glenn stated. "She made it how long on her own? Before she found Andrea? She left Woodbury. Merle shot her and she still found formula. And us. She's alive. She's found a place. Daryl? He went back to wherever she was."

"You think we're going to find them?" Sasha asked through gritted teeth.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Mountains are smart. The terrain. Snow. Daryl could hunt," Rick offered quietly.

"The Appalachian Trail is long," Aaron muttered. "I don't think we should count on finding them."

"We won't. But with these," Glenn held a few up. "We have a chance. We have a chance to make it. It might not be like the prison or Alexandria or Hilltop, but it could be close. Negan? If that asshole survived? He wouldn't think of looking for us in the mountains."

"I agree. He has, or had, his kingdom," Jesus sneered. "He won't leave it."

Aaron approached the front desk and laid the brochures he was holding down with the others. Jesus did the same. "Let's find a new place."

* * *

 **A/N: In the comics Judith and Carol both die. In this, Carl doesn't lose his eye. Glenn, Abraham and Sasha are alive**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you for reading.**

* * *

Maggie decided they should search the entire place. Rick and Carl were hurt so they were doing watch by the door. On the tenth floor they found some flat soda, stale crackers, gum, more water and taffy.

"Better than nothing," Glenn opened the pillow case he was carrying.

She looked inside at the pitiful amount of food they found. "Better than when we left the prison," she whispered.

"Yeah. Better than when we left the prison," he agreed.

They headed toward the stairs Maggie flicked on the lighter and they started down. "You think they're alive?"

"Daryl and Michonne? Yeah. They're alive."

"Should we go back?"

Glenn stayed silent. "I…don't want to, Maggie. I know we should bury Carol. I'd, we'd been together since Atlanta. This? We're away from there. I don't want to press our luck."

"We did put her down."

"Yeah and we buried Sophia. I guess we should," he muttered.

* * *

"Dad?" Carl looked at him from under the windows in the lobby.

"Yeah, Carl?"

"Should we go back to bury Carol?"

Rick, near the door, shifted on his feet.

"Abraham put her down. Can't that be enough?"

He sighed. "Yeah, Carl. It can be enough."

Carl nodded his head. "She's with Sophia. I think she'll be happier now."

Rick wiped his eyes as he watched the walkers shuffle across the parking lot. "I think so, too, son."

* * *

Sasha was silent, for the most part, as she and Abraham searched the ninth floor.

"They're alive," Abraham stated after they'd finished searching half the rooms. The pillowcase had a bottle of water, a few beers, beer nuts and mints.

"You don't know that," she retorted.

"They are."

"I don't want to go back and bury Carol." She surprised herself by speaking that out loud. She and Carol got along well enough at the prison. Before the crazy bitch killed Karen and David. Before the crazy bitch practically blew up Terminus. That's when she started being watchful around the woman.

"Me, either."

* * *

On the seventh floor Jesus and Aaron cleaned out quite a few rooms. They didn't find much. Stale chips, flat sodas and some old chocolate bars.

They looked into the pillowcase then at each other. "Not a lot," Aaron sighed.

"Better than nothing."

"Yeah, better than nothing," Aaron agreed as they made their way to the next room.

"Who're Daryl and Michonne?" Jesus asked again.

"They were with Rick when I recruited them to Alexandria. Deanna, she had problems accepting this. Daryl was going to recruit with me and Eric. Deanna had Rick and Michonne as constables. I don't know what happened, Daryl and I had gone out, Eric had a broken ankle, and we brought Morgan back. We walk into Alexandria to a fight. One of the residents was a doctor and tried to kill Rick. Rick and Carol. That woman," Aaron cleared his throat. "She put a gun to Deanna's head and they took her back to Rick's house. It got worse from there. Pete tried to kill Rick again, ended up killing Deanna's son Spencer. Rick killed him. Deanna ended up stepping down."

"I thought Hilltop had drama," Jesus huffed.

Aaron chuckled. "Yeah. I didn't know Michonne or Daryl left until a few days later. I guess Carl and her were close. After Deanna stepped down Rick started leading. You know the rest."

"You think they're alive?"

Aaron went through the closet as he thought about his answer. "This world is crazy. Daryl could hunt. I guess Michonne could take care of herself. Who knows these days?"

Jesus knew that well enough.

* * *

"I don't want to go back," Sasha announced as they sat around in the lobby, Jesus and Aaron were doing watch, and eating some of what they'd found.

"Carol," Maggie said.

"Personally, I thought she was crazy."

"Like you have room to talk," Jesus cut her off.

She glared at him. "As I was saying, I thought she was crazy but a good fighter. I'm crazy, too. We're all crazy," she shot Rick a look. Carl glared right back. "But going back right now isn't smart. Whoever did this? They could still be out there. We don't have enough guns or people."

"If it wasn't Negan Sasha has a point," Abraham stated quietly.

"Even if it was the Saviors Sasha has a point," Glenn seconded. "If we go back it wouldn't be any better. It would be worse. We'd have to rebuild. The surrounding area's been cleaned out. By us. By Hilltop. By the Kingdom. By the Saviors. We couldn't trust anyone we found."

"We still can't trust anyone we find," Sasha snapped.

"Not around here. Other places? It might be worse. It might be better. We don't know," Aaron argued from the door.

"This isn't like the prison, Rick. Yeah, we don't have a lot, but we have some. Jesus and Abraham both think the mountains are a good idea. I do, too," Glenn pressed. "I was looking through some of those brochures. There's a Trail town called Damascus. I think we should try there."

"The caverns in Luray," Maggie added.

* * *

Rick looked at the people with him. He looked at Carl. When he woke up from his coma the first thing he'd done was try and find his wife and son. He'd done it. After everythang he'd gone through he still had Carl.

Finding them was luck. They found the prison by accident. Woodbury found them on accident. Alexandria was luck. Finding out about Hilltop was by accident. Finding out about the Kingdom was through Jesus. Maybe it was time to actually plan something. Terminus didn't work out, but they could try again.

"Let's stay here another day, look through those brochures and try and find another place and some supplies. In the mountains," he hugged Carl.

"Thanks, Rick," Glenn nodded.

"What about Carol?" Maggie asked.

He shook his head. "No. We're not in a good position, Maggie. We put her down. It has to be enough right now."

She frowned, but seemed to accept it.

He hoped one day they could come back and bury Carol.

* * *

Jesus woke up in an uncomfortable chair in the lobby to see Rick sitting across from him, wide awake.

"Rick."

"Jesus."

"Did you just get up?"

He nodded. "Yeah." He held up some of the brochures. "I think we should try for one of the ski resorts."

He frowned. "Why are you telling me?"

"I…need your advice. I've made some stupid mistakes that cost me my daughter. Cost Deanna and her family their lives. The lives of the people in Alexandria."

"Rick, look, I don't know what happened with your daughter."

"I trusted the wrong people and she died," he interrupted. "You? You told me about Negan and the Saviors. The Kingdom."

He put his hands up. "You can't blame."

"I'm not. I'm not blaming you. Just pointing out facts. My people that are left are all sufferin' from my mistakes."

"You can't blame it all on you, Rick," Jesus protested.

"Maybe. Maybe not. But tensions are high right now and we need to be calm. The trail town, Damascus. The problem is, it is a town. We don't have enough people or guns to secure it. The ski resort? Different story. It's away from a town. It also was a day riding place when it wasn't ski season."

"Again, why are you telling me?"

"Because you're calm, Paul, and you'll tell it like it is." He sighed and looked at the brochure in his hand. "My friend, Hershel, Maggie's dad, he helped calm me down, made me look at what I was doing." Rick looked at him again with sad eyes. "You know what he told me once? The definition of stupidity is doin' the same thang, every time, and expectin' different results. It's what I've been doin'. The same thang. Daryl and Michonne? The ones we've been talkin' about? They helped me after we lost the prison. Helped me, helped us, keep it together until Aaron found us."

"Then why did you kick them out?"

"When we got to Alexandria Deanna had on these rose colored glasses, wouldn't let us carry guns. She had a hard time with the knives. We didn't like it. I saw a place that was out of touch. It wasn't fair, I thought, so me and Carol wanted to take over. We'd lost so much before Aaron found us."

"Daryl?"

"Daryl didn't really want to, I think he did it because I asked him. Sasha's right. Carol was crazy. I was angry. Anyway, I got into a fight with Pete Anderson and Michonne knocked my ass out. I don't know what I said to her but whatever it was made her leave. I got angrier. I guess I thought she should just follow me blindly. I was doing what was best for our group. Daryl? Well, he left to check on her. When he came back I kicked him out because I didn't trust him." Rick let out a strangled laugh. "Funny. I didn't trust him. He'd never lied to me before. I was angry and I lost two of my friends. My brother."

Jesus waited while Rick gathered his thoughts.

"I need someone who will tell me when I'm full of shit. So I'm asking for your advice."

Jesus sat back with a frown on his face. Rick gave him the brochure and sat back down. He looked at the other ones on the table and compared. Damascus was a town and they could barricade a few buildings but with hardly any people or food or guns it would be hard.

"What happens when we get there?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Depends." Rick shrugged his shoulders. "If it has people, decent people that know," he emphasized, "We'll just blend in."

"If not?"

"If it's empty than we make walls, find food, do runs, maybe find some decent people. We'll have a council, like we did at the prison. I wasn't on it."

"Who was?"

Rick smiled a little. "Daryl, Hershel, Sasha, Glenn and Carol."

"After looking through these, I think a ski resort is the best idea. A day riding place, too? The horses are probably dead. Sure. I'll go with that."

"Thank you."

"You know you didn't have to tell me all that shit, right?" he raised his eyebrows.

The man shrugged again. "I know."

"I'm not really Jesus, Rick."

"I know that, too. I just needed someone to listen."

* * *

Rick watched as Maggie and Glenn stood by the doors and the rest of his people picked through what they'd found so far. Carl went and got more brochures for the ski resort near Edinburg and passed them out.

"I think this one would be the best," he told his people.

Abraham looked up. "Ski resort in the mountains is a good idea."

"Yeah. The caverns? We'll be underground, which could be bad," he nodded to Maggie. "We don't know what the weather's like. Floods could be a problem."

"Never thought of that," she admitted.

"Right. Damascus? It is a town. We couldn't secure it, Glenn."

He blinked.

"It's a good idea, Glenn, but I'm with Rick on this. A town? We could do a few buildings. The ski resort day riding place?" Aaron held up the brochure. "Better. They have a few buildings to stay in and some stables. It's in the mountains and walkers aren't that coordinated."

"But we won't take it for granted. We'll build walls," Rick added.

"People?" Sasha looked at him over the edge of the brochure, hiding the rest of her face.

"It depends. If they're decent and we can stay I think we should stay," he said.

"I'm not staying in another Alexandria, Rick," she scoffed.

"I didn't say you had to, Sasha. By decent, I mean if they know what it's like out here and don't try and eat us," he retorted.

"Yeah. No cannibals," Glenn declared.

"And no taking our stuff," Maggie added.

"No paying for protection." Rick sighed. "Like Glenn, I believe there are people out there, decent people, like us, just trying to stay alive. In fact, we know there are. We had them at the prison. At Hilltop. At the Kingdom. Even some in Alexandria. America's a big country. Not everyone's like Gareth or the Governor or Negan. We'll need to find gas and food."

"Do you want to go back?" Abraham asked.

"I'm not. Alexandria was on fire. If anyone made it out." He trailed off. "We wouldn't know where to start looking. The Saviors are still out there, too, as far as we know. I have to think of Carl. If you don't want to come with me? I'm not gonna make you. It's your life and you should do what you think is right for you. One of the things I'm changing," he looked at Jesus. "Me and Carl are going to this ski resort. We can part ways now. The only thing I ask is we get a car and some of the food we found."

"You'll never make it," Sasha pointed out.

"We will, Sasha. Morgan made it on his own from Georgia to Alexandria. Michonne made it on her own until she found Andrea. Maggie even made it on her own for a little while. We know what to do. I have a plan now and it's going to this ski resort. If there are decent people there? We're staying. After a bit, I'll come back and bury Carol."

"I'll go with you," Aaron raised his hand. "There's nothing here for me now."

"Maggie?" Jesus asked.

"Shit. I don't know. Glenn?"

"I already told you, Maggie, I'll go with you but my reasons why it's a bad idea haven't changed. We could go to the caverns," he suggested.

Rick stood up. "Me, Carl and Aaron will take a car. Leave tomorrow morning? We'll do a run right now, try and find some food and water."

"Sounds good. Let's go."

* * *

Sasha watched as Rick, Aaron and Carl left the hotel. "Well?" she asked Abraham.

"Ski resort doesn't sound bad. Walkers aren't coordinated. It snows so we'll have water."

"We're going with Rick?"

"I am, Sasha. You want to go to another ski resort? There's a few more here," he dug through the brochures on the table, picked out a few and passed them over. She took them and started reading.

"I'll go with you and Glenn, Maggie," Jesus said. "But I think this ski resort or a ski resort is a good idea."

* * *

"Damn that asshole," Maggie shouted.

"Yelling about it won't do anything," Jesus pointed out.

"You think I don't know that?" she hissed back.

"Why are you going with Rick?" Sasha asked.

"Because he saved my ass at Terminus. He kept us going, Sash. I could have left at any time. Rosita and I talked about it. The first few days we were in Alexandria. Thought about Gabriel's church. It was out in the boonies, but there was a town close by."

"You were thinking about leaving?" Glenn yelled.

"Sure was. After Eugene and his bullshit, I thought about just up and leaving. I didn't have a mission anymore. What the fuck was I sticking around for? Deanna made it worse. Rosita suggested it then."

"What in the hell?" Maggie gaped.

"Then we started doing things in Alexandria. I agreed we needed to do something. Deanna was a fucking moron. I didn't give a shit Carol put a gun to her head. Someone needed to." He took a bottle of beer and opened it, sipping before he spoke again. "Then those Wolves bastards. After we took care of that shitshow we were doing fine. Until we found Jesus," Abraham lifted his beer in salute. "You told us about Negan. Rick rallied the troops. Negan had more people. We didn't get our asses handed to us, but he has more people than we killed. Rick's done alright by me. I'll go with him." He shrugged. "If this place doesn't work out for me then I'll leave on my own."

* * *

Sasha put down the brochures. "You'll leave on your own? Really?"

"Yes, Sash, really. We don't have to stick together. Is it better? Yeah, but me, Rosita and Eugene were together for a while before we found Glenn and Tara. We were doing all the work. Eugene didn't do shit for us." He took another sip. "To be honest? I'm fucking tired. Like Rick I just want a safe place to stay. I'll work for it, sure, but I don't want to fight anymore."

"I'm. I don't." Sasha stopped talking. She was tired, too. The bar wasn't set too high. No cannibals. No extortion rackets. Weapons. "I'll go."

She saw Glenn and Maggie look at each other. "We'll go, too."

"It's unanimous."

* * *

"Hey, Dad?" Carl looked at where his dad should be on the other side of the doors. They couldn't see anything, it was dark out, but they could still hear the occasional walker.

"Yes, Carl?"

"Did you mean it? We could go our own ways?"

"I did."

"But they're all coming with us."

"They are."

"If this place doesn't work out? What are we going to do?"

"I'll think of somethang. Maybe we'll go back to King County. We could go back to the prison, maybe. Woodbury."

"I thought you said King County was too far?"

"It is, Carl." His dad let out a breath. "Maybe not far enough away from here."

"Do you think we can find Michonne?" he asked after a few minutes.

"I doubt it. I was ass."

"Maybe we should try all of those brochure places," Carl suggested.

"Thought about it, Carl. Daryl was gone for four days. I guess he took his bike. Michonne might have found a car. Hell, they could've walked for all I know."

"Then why don't we?" he whined.

"Carl, there's too many of them. We don't even know if they would have tried one of these places. Michonne could have found another community and stayed there."

"Aren't we going to try?"

"No, Carl, we're not. We need to find our own place first."

He pouted. "They're probably in California by now."

His dad choked. "What?"

"Michonne and Daryl. Michonne told me before she found us she only stayed in one place a few days until Woodbury. They've been gone how long?"

"I guess about a year."

"How long would it take to get to California?"

"A long time, Carl. A long time."


	3. Chapter 3

Rick looked at Abraham and Aaron in the back seat before he turned on the car and headed for four ninety-five. Carl was in the passenger seat with a map they'd found while they were out yesterday. As the hotel disappeared in the rearview mirror he sent a silent apology to Carol for not burying her. He didn't go back and bury Hershel. Hell, Hershel's head was probably still outside the fences snapping at anything it could get its teeth into.

The car was silent as they drove down the road. Carl was reading the few comics he found when they searched some houses that were close. They didn't find much but more than they'd found around Alexandria when they were getting their payment for Negan. Asshole.

They reached the first traffic jam at Bellaire. After searching the cars for water and food, Glenn, Maggie and Sasha siphoned off gas while him, Aaron, Abraham and Jesus moved cars. It was hard work and he was sweating by the time they'd cleared that hurdle.

"It's getting dark. We should sleep here tonight," Glenn advised.

"Yeah. Some of the cars are clean we can sleep in there," he agreed.

* * *

"Is this what you want to do?" Abraham whispered in the dark. Like the hotel they'd split up. Rick and Carl, Aaron and Jesus, Glenn and Maggie, her and Abraham.

"Yeah. I'm fine." She turned on her side and faced the back of the front seats. She opened the pocket and dug around, pulling something out that crinkled. "I don't want to fight anymore."

* * *

"You know what I was thinkin', Glenn? There can't be any place like Alexandria," Maggie commented.

Glenn laid on his side in the minivan they'd taken. "You think?"

"I do. When we went to Hilltop those people wore knives. The same with the Kingdom. Maybe Deanna should have gotten out more."

"She didn't."

Maggie snorted. "No. No she didn't. I'm sorry, Glenn."

"For what?"

"For backin' Rick against Deanna."

Glenn sighed. "Thank you."

"We never talk about it, but I know I hurt you. A lot. What we did? It wasn't right. I've been too afraid to apologize. I didn't wanna talk about it. But after what happened, we need to. I know you've been mad at me for a while."

"Yeah. I have. But you're my wife, Maggie. I know losing Hershel and Beth and the prison was hard. Maybe I should have said something more."

She wiped her eyes. "Daddy would have been so disappointed in me if he knew what I did."

"Probably. He would have been disappointed in me to, Maggie. For not doing anything to stop Rick."

"Shit. Nothin', not even bein' knocked out, did anything to make him stop."

* * *

Rick laid on the front seat listening to Carl breathe. Funny how a few good nights' rest made things clearer. It was bad he'd slept well, but he wasn't worrying about anythang. Alexandria was gone. The weight he was carrying, finally admitting Alexandria had ended up being a burden, was gone. He wiped his tears away. He just wished. Judith. She'd be alive if he hadn't been so fucking angry. So fucking jealous. So fucking…crazy.

He'd been so angry when they got there. Too many losses coming from everywhere for him to deal with. Just when he thought nothang else could happen it did. It started with that asshole Governor. Losing Hershel that way. Getting his ass kicked. Carl almost being raped. Terminus. Bob. Losing Beth right in front of his face to that bitch Dawn. Noah's place and losing Ty.

He'd been so jealous. None of those people knew what it was like. Tobin. Aiden. Spencer. Deanna. Reg. They lived normal lives before, like him. They lived normal lives after, not like him. They didn't go through the shit he had. Shane and Lori. The CDC. Sophia and the farm. The prison. Woodbury. Hell, he knew what type of man Pete was. He'd been a Sheriff, he could read people. He'd needed to kick someone's ass 'cause life was kicking his.

He'd been so fucking crazy. The suburban life. Jessie Anderson. She was like any of the women he'd known in King County. Nice. Gentle. With an asshole husband. Rick acknowledged Pete reminded him of Shane a little and he'd wanted some payback.

Judith paid the price. His people paid the price. Jessie, Ron and Sam paid the price. Alexandria paid the price. He told Jesus it was time to do somethang different and he was. He needed to let go. Losing Alexandria showed him he needed to let go. He'd miss Judith with all his heart and would always regret his actions cost his daughter her life, but he couldn't dwell on it anymore or Carl would pay the price. He was tired of other people paying the price for his actions.

Looking back, now that he decided to _live_ , Rick could see they should have stopped. He should have stopped after Daryl refused the gun Carol tried to give him. They should have talked it out. He huffed out a laugh. Lori always said he didn't know how to communicate. He missed her still, but not like before. "I'm sorry, Lori, about Judith," he whispered. "I'm gonna do my best to keep Carl alive. You were right. He's strong and he's smart and he's brave. We did good." He heaved a breath. "Shane, I'm sorry. For everythang." He fell asleep feeling better. He'd unloaded the last of his burdens. He needed to look to the future. And the future was his son.

* * *

Carl listened as his dad told his mom he was sorry about Judith. He missed her. It wasn't fair. Judy was just a baby. She just learned to say his name. He turned and faced the back of the seat and wept.

* * *

"I brought more brochures," Aaron whispered in the dark. He and Jesus were sharing a sedan, not far from their cars.

"Did you?" Jesus whispered back.

"If this place doesn't work out."

"I think it will," Jesus commented after a while.

"I hope you're right. I hope Rick's right."

* * *

Sasha watched as Rick and Carl searched a car in the Fair Lakes Shopping Center parking lot. They should have tried this way earlier. There were a lot of cars. Jesus, Maggie and Glenn were searching the car next to them. Abraham and Aaron the next one over. No one was crazy enough to try going in the mall. They'd driven up to the doors and saw a chain with a lock around the handles. The ones inside didn't make too much noise. Sasha noticed that the walkers were disintegrating. She'd seen some really ugly ones. The fuckers would still try and eat you.

She wondered how long it would take for the first ones to really die. She knew the teeth could still try and bite, but if they were smashed to bits? No more walkers. The problem was there were too many and with assholes like the Governor and Negan making new ones? They'd never go away. Just dying made you a walker, unless someone put you down before you turned. She hoped when she died someone would put her down.

* * *

Aaron got off route sixty six at Wellington and drove around until he found a little subdivision. "This looks like as good a place as any to stay the night."

Glenn got out of the other car and yawned. "Sounds good to me. We'll clear out a house."

Jesus pulled his knife and knocked on the door.

* * *

Maggie looked around the bedroom she and Glenn had taken and fell face first on the bed. She'd forgotten what it was like when they were on the road from Terminus to nowhere. She sighed as she stretched out. This was nice. She hoped this ski resort worked out for them.

"Hey," Glenn greeted as he walked in. She laughed a little when he fell on the bed, bouncing her up and down a little.

"Shit. So nice to sleep in a bed," he yawned.

"Yeah, I was just thinkin' that." Maggie turned and put her head on Glenn's shoulder. He put his arm around her.

She could tell when he fell asleep. She should be sleeping, too. So far this wasn't bad. They had to clean a portion of a freeway. The car search at the mall was fruitful. They found gas, food, water and a few loaded guns.

Rick looked different. Lighter somehow. Like Glenn looked lighter to her. She should have apologized sooner, but she'd been too pissed and sad. Then she'd been embarrassed by her behavior. Then too busy tryin' to stay alive. The Wolves. The Saviors. This last group. She agreed with Jesus. It wasn't Negan. It was group not afraid of Negan and that scared the shit out of her. She wiped the tears from her eyes. She'd miss Hilltop, even with the bullshit they were going through.

Some days she'd wake up and see Glenn and thanked whatever bug crawled up Negan's ass and had him choose Nicholas and not Glenn. Not any of her family. Even Rick. She'd been mad at him and she didn't even realize it, until now. Now that he was lighter. Now that she was lighter. Now that Glenn was lighter. Maggie kissed Glenn on the cheek and hoped Sasha and Abraham would be lighter, too. Someday maybe they would. She fell asleep believing Rick was right, there were good people out there. They just needed to find them.

* * *

The closer they got to the ski resort the more restless Jesus became. After leaving that little subdivision, and cleaning out the surrounding cars, the rest of the trip hadn't been bad. The cars were practically nonexistent for the famed route 66. No cities out this way, which could be good and bad.

He marked off the distance by the road signs that were still standing and guesswork when they weren't. They didn't slow down to find out. He'd need to get out here, scope the area, even if this ski resort worked out. He didn't like not knowing. Not after Negan. He never did find his ass. If he'd had more people to count on, maybe he could have. He didn't. He and a few others from Hilltop went outside the walls. After Maggie and Glenn took over, Gregory that prick deserved to die, he'd had a few more. They'd been through more than him. His background made him better able to survive than most.

He glanced at Sasha. She'd been quiet since the hotel. She talked when addressed and that was it. It was like she'd run out of anger. She watched out the passenger side as the trees and signs whizzed by. She perked up when they pulled into Edinburg and got out when the car came to a stop.

* * *

Abraham shut the car off in front of what was 'Gracie's Diner', judging by the weather beaten sign above the door. Rick's idea to check out this little town was a sound one. They could get the lay of the land. If it had stuff in it, there were people around and they needed to be extra careful. If it didn't? There weren't any people around.

After he got out of the car he looked around. "Not to many walkers," he said quietly.

"Yeah," Rick agreed. "Could be good. Could be bad."

Abraham nodded in agreement and pulled his machete.

After the fifth business along the main street they'd searched, he admitted there were people around. The places were too empty. An occasional walker, but that was it. No food. No water. No guns. No gas.

Yes, him and Rosita should have packed up and left that place when they had the chance. He saw Sasha out of the corner of his eye. Rosita wasn't the last woman on earth. He missed her but not as much as he thought he would. He'd shed some tears when he found out she'd taken a bullet and held her hand as she died in the clinic.

Getting his head back in the here and now he followed Jesus into the building next door. "It's empty," Jesus whispered. Abraham nodded in acknowledgement as he headed to the back of the insurance office they were in. The man was right. His machete down at his side, he walked out the door to the others standing around.

"Alright," Rick said in his country drawl. "This town's probably cleaned out, judgin' by the looks of the buildings we've gone through, so there's probably people at the ski resort. We're gonna watch it for a few days, try and get a feel for them before we ask to stay."

"Good idea. We should take turns," Maggie suggested. "Have four watch the place during the day and four stay here. We've got enough to last for a while and we can always check the houses in town, just in case."

"We'll find a house to bed down in, close to the road. Me, Carl, Abraham and Sasha will go tomorrow. The next day, Glenn, you take Maggie, Aaron and Jesus. Just watch. Don't talk to 'em. If they see you, tell them you're looking for a place to stay. Don't tell them about us."

"Terminus?" Abraham raised his eyebrows.

Rick shrugged. "Better to be safe than sorry."

* * *

Sasha didn't disagree with Rick as she sat in the woods the next day. They'd walked into Terminus and almost didn't walk back out. Those assholes. She was in a tree, looking through her rifle scope, as she watched the people inside the ski resort. The fences were shit, but they hadn't seen a lot of walkers.

She counted almost twenty five people, including kids. The fact they had kids was a good sign. They were running around, helping in one of the buildings. Her head jerked back when she saw a horse being led out. Not cannibals. One of the little girls was petting it. A blond woman came up to the Hispanic girl, she couldn't have been older than Carl, and talked to her. The little girl ran off.

After her first sweep of the place she kept at it. They were growing food and they had at least one horse and a few chickens. She bypassed the laundry that was hung up to dry. The car starting had her following the sound. She raised her eyebrows in surprise as a black Ford Mustang drove out of a building outside of the fence. Not smart keeping the vehicles outside the fence. So far, that and the fences were the only drawbacks.

* * *

Aaron used Sasha's rifle the next day and found a different tree. One on the west side of the main building. To him, it looked like a nice little place with people that were trying to live. He saw kids. He saw horses and chickens. He saw the perimeter watch. Sasha didn't mention it, Rick did. He saw gardens and rabbit hutch. He also saw a few windmills. Aaron didn't know if they were decorative or they did something. It was windy up here. Windmills could make electricity. Maybe they had some. They had a well. He saw a few people, men and women, pump water throughout the day.

What Aaron didn't see was a lot of guns. Everyone he did see, minus the kids, carried a knife of some sort. It made him sad. And a little pissed. If Deanna. He wasn't going to go down that rabbit hole.

There were times during the year or so after Aaron brought Rick and his people to Alexandria he'd hated the man. His people, too. Logically, he, Eric and Deanna knew they needed people with experience outside the walls. The people of Alexandria, most of them had been nice people, were out of touch with reality. It seemed the bad outside had followed Rick inside their home.

When Carol put a gun to Deanna's head he'd closed his eyes. He'd never killed a living person and he didn't want to kill a living person. At that time, he didn't think he could kill a living person. Snorting softly, he knew he could. He'd done it. He still hated it. It shouldn't be like this.

* * *

Abraham watched as two people, a white woman with dark hair and a black man with dark hair, got out of a black Honda and headed toward the gate, with guns on their backs. A blond woman came to the gate and outside before going over to the car. The dark haired woman went to the back pulled out a cage. The blond took it and was moving it all around while the two people watched.

He didn't get close enough to hear what was being said but the women seemed to be running the show. The man was leaning against the car and one of the men from inside was hanging on the fence, watching. After a few minutes, the blond walked back inside to the man, who gave her a few bags. She took them over to the people and the woman opened the bags, put her hand in and pulled out some…food? Shit. They were trading. The women shook hands before parting. The blond went back inside the fences and the dark haired woman back to the car with the man. It started up and left. The man inside the gate took the cage and walked over to the other chickens.

* * *

"It was a rooster," Maggie announced after they'd finished up some stale granola bars washed down by some water from a stream near the ski resort. A creak, really.

Rick took it as a good sign that the ski resort was trading with another community. Four days after they'd arrived in Edinburg they were still in the first empty house they took over. It had been cleaned out, so he wasn't worried about food if they decided to try and live there.

"That's good. They have eggs," Glenn commented.

"Trading is good. They're cooperating," Aaron added.

"Water," Sasha said.

Rick finished his bar. "What do you think?"

* * *

Glenn took a sip of water. "I think we should go for it."

The place kind of reminded him of the prison. Before the Governor. They'd all seen kids running around. They had chickens and rabbits instead of pigs. A bigger garden than Rick had started. Abraham told them about a trade that happened yesterday.

"We won't be eaten," Carl noted. "They have horses and chickens."

"Rabbit pen," Aaron reminded them.

"They're growing food," Abraham added.

He thought Rick's idea of scoping the place out was sound. He used to do it in the beginning, when he went on runs. When this first started.

"The fences are shit and they shouldn't keep the cars outside the gate. They have people walk the fence. Not a lot of guns," Sasha listed. Glenn wanted to roll his eyes at her. Realistically, those were legitimate concerns.

"Reminds me of the prison," Maggie murmured.

"They could have the guns inside, Sasha. At the prison we all carried them outside for watch or runs and put them away when we came in. It could be the same. They all carry knives or something," Glenn pointed out.

She nodded her head once in agreement.

"Alexandria had a shit ton of guns, Sash," Abraham corrected her. "Deanna didn't let anyone near them unless they were going on runs. Until Rick. That's when we carried them. After a while we put them up. The Saviors, after the first time, took them all or we would have been carrying them all the time."

"I haven't seen a lot of walkers, either. The ones I've seen are old, slow and not coordinated. I can't see herds as being as big of a problem. Not with the terrain. We have a better chance of getting away or killing them here," Jesus said.

"Aside from the one car that left and the trade we haven't seen any people," Aaron noted. "We haven't seen it come back, but the town's empty. They could be on a long run."

* * *

Maggie liked the place. Kids. Maybe her and Glenn could try again. A glance at Glenn and she could tell he wanted to try it. If it didn't work out they could leave.

"I think we should try it. Tomorrow," she suggested. "They have fences, shitty or not," she shot Sasha a look. "They have a garden, kids, chickens and rabbits. They also trade. It's what we were tryin' to do."

"They carry some protection. They don't have a lot of walkers," Aaron repeated.

"People."

"Rick," Maggie cut him off. "We can wait for a while, if you want. It's. I think this would be a good place."

"Groups like the Saviors?" he countered.

"They trade. Those people looked like they meant business." Abraham gave a ghost of a smile. "They looked impressive. Yeah, they could be full of shit. Aside from Eugene," he sneered the name, "looks don't count for much."

"If they have a group like the Saviors, I say we leave this time," Sasha muttered.

* * *

"Let's watch for one more day," Rick decided. "Just in case."

"We'll need food soon," Glenn pointed out.

"Yeah, I know. One more day. We'll all go."

* * *

Carl watched from the tree line near the front of the ski resort. This place didn't look bad. They had kids. They had food. He looked in his dad's direction. Glenn and Maggie wanted to go. Jesus or Sasha didn't say much. Abraham was still kind of quiet, for him. He followed his dad.

He didn't like that the kids he saw didn't have knives or guns, but the adults carried something. This place was better than Alexandria when they first got there. He wondered if they had electricity or school. Thinking of school made his eyes water. He'd been going when they first got there. Ron had been his first friend close to his age. Enid. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and went back to watching. If she could have, she would have made it out.

* * *

Rick looked at his people, nodded and waited while Glenn, Maggie, Aaron and Jesus got in their car. He took the wheel, Carl shut the passenger door, Abraham and Sasha in the back seat of the second one. They'd all watched the ski resort and talked it over, again, when they came back to sleep for the night. They were going today.

He wanted this to work out, but he needed to be sure, get everyone's opinion. He trusted all of them. The place, aside from Sasha's objections, which he agreed with, seemed…ok. Like the prison. The prison had been the best place he and Carl had lived since this whole thing started. The quarry and the farm had been too open. Shane had been unstable. After Hershel helped him pull his head out of his ass and they'd gotten a council he concentrated on not leading.

He decided he would approach first, by himself. Rick looked at Carl, smiled a little, and walked toward the gate before someone yelled at him to stop. It was like the prison, not that they didn't have anyone Daryl didn't bring in, but they would have. And pointed guns, like he did at Michonne. He held his hands up.


	4. Chapter 4

Ashley Nagel couldn't believe this shit. She shot Tony a look as one of the people that had been watching from the woods was walking toward the gate. They'd been through this before. Once it had been bad. After the first incident of people showing up they'd killed anyone else that tried something stupid.

When Andrew had spotted them on the CCTV Tony had wanted to wait. There had been four people at a time, different people, for four days. Four white men, a white boy, an Asian man, a white woman and a black woman. Yesterday it had been all eight. Judging from what they'd seen, the people would watch their place and disappear at night, probably back to the empty town. What bothered her and Tony the most was one of them was a kid. He couldn't have been more than thirteen or fourteen years old.

Tony nudged her shoulder and she tightened her grip on her handgun. One of a few reasons why she was glad her dad had her and her brother spend time with their crazy ass grandpa.

"Stop!" Hanna shouted.

The man stopped and put up his hands, like he was surrendering.

* * *

"What the fuck do you want?" Tony yelled.

"I'm looking for a place for me and my people," the man shouted back in a country accent. He looked like he hadn't taken a shower in a while. His hair was greasy, his beard was something else and his clothes looked dirty and torn.

"How many?" Ashley asked.

"Eight. One of them is my son," the man replied.

Anthony Nagel looked at one of the people that had been scoping out their place. They hadn't done anything, just watched. He shared a look with Ashley. The kid. He'd seen all kinds of shit before and after, but kids still got to him and her. Which was stupid. He'd worked in the gang unit for the NYPD and he'd seen kids do all kinds of stupid shit, trying to belong. Now they did all kinds of things, he was sure, to survive.

He shared a look with Ash again. She shrugged. He nodded his head at Hannah and she opened the gate. The man stepped in and Anthony pushed him against the fence for a search. He had to hold his breath because the man smelled bad. He took the man's gun and machete, handing them off to Hannah. "Where are the others?" He raised an eyebrow as the man turned to face him.

"Somewhere safe."

"Then how the hell are they going to find you?" Ash scoffed.

"I…figured if you let me stay I could go get them."

"Dumb plan," Tony huffed. "Why should we let you stay?"

"Why don't you have a place?" Ash demanded.

The man looked murderous. "Someone set it on fire. Most of my people died. There was a group terrorizing the communities. We thought it was them."

"Did they follow you?" Anthony asked harshly.

"No. We've been in Edinburg for the past week. One of my people found this place. We watched it. We had a run in with some cannibals a long time ago," the man sneered. "They were offering 'sanctuary'. Some of my people were being held hostage. Instead of rushing in we decided to watch. Make sure."

"Are you serious? Cannibals?" Hannah shrieked.

"Yeah. Another of my people blew the place up and we escaped."

"Where and how many communities?" Jared demanded.

"East of the mountains. And there were three. Four if you count the Saviors."

"Shit, Tony," Ash raised her voice.

"You're sure no one followed you?" Tony pressed.

"Yeah. We're sure."

"Stay here," Tony pointed to Hannah, who tightened the grip on her gun.

* * *

Ash followed her brother inside the main house. "Well?"

"Cannibals? Shit, Ash. I'm not surprised about the other group. We've had some of the same trouble." Tony looked out the window at the man. "His people are around."

"No shit, Sherlock. Lis is watching them on the CCTV. They're just waiting."

"All they've done is watch. They don't really have a good idea of the set up. That country bumpkin thinks this is Edinburg. It's nice to see some of Linda and the Castle's people," her brother commented.

"We need to make a decision. Those people probably want to go home," she said. Frankly, she was impressed. When the Castle patrol showed up two months ago, they'd had some balls, walking straight up to the gate. She and Tony had been skeptical, at first. Anyone offering to help usually had a price, if they weren't outright lying about helping. Jake and Ray said the leader of the Castle was interested in staying alive, like them, and cooperation would work best. They'd put Crazy Ass in touch with the Training Grounds, a community near Mount Jackson run by a Linda Cardinelli, and they'd done a few trades.

When Travis had seen the four people in the woods Tony had sent Brick to the Training Grounds to let them know. Brick came back that night with reinforcements. According to him Linda had sent her right hand people to the Castle right away. The Castle people showed up a few hours later at the Training Grounds before taking a few of Linda's people and bunking down in Willow Grove. This Castle place was serious. It was nice to know there were others out there that just wanted to live.

"Let's talk to him, see what he has to say," Tony decided. "If it sounds legit," he shot her a look. "Probation period. No guns for a week. The kid has to take classes, with the others. Help. Sound good?"

Ash thought about it a few minutes. So far, the guy sounded okay, but Tony had a better feel on how to read people than she did. She was still stuck on this Castle place sending people to help them right away. "Okay. Purple was a good choice and we need a better name."

Tony laughed. "You work on that. We'll talk to him so those others can get home."

"Kinda cool, huh?"

"Kinda cool," he agreed.

* * *

Rick, with his hands in the air, watched as the blond haired man, Tony, and the blond haired woman came back outside. Tony stopped near him. "Here's the deal. You tell me and Ash." He pointed to the woman next to him, "everything. The good, bad and the ugly. If we feel you're truthful, you and your people can stay. No guns for a week. Your son has to attend what passes for school here. You and your people help where we say."

"No guns?" his mouth fell open.

The man narrowed his brown eyes. "For a week. You can keep the machete. If we lose this fence to a big stampede you'll need something to defend yourself. If we feel safe and your group fits in with very little trouble, you'll get them back. If this doesn't work out, we're kicking your asses out of here. Will that work for you?" he challenged.

Rick put his hands down. "Everythang?" he noticed the woman wince.

"Everything pertinent to why you don't have a place. We'll need the details of this group that burned you out of your community."

"Negan and the Saviors."

"Whatever, man," the woman rolled her eyes.

"We'll need to talk to your people, too," Tony continued.

"You won't kill us?"

The woman, Ash, rolled her eyes again. "We could kill you now, you moron."

"This part of the Valley, we leave people alone. Unless you turn out to be an asshole then we kill you. No need if we just don't get along. Don't take our shit, don't try and kill us, don't come back and there won't be a need to kill you."

He didn't know whether to believe him or not. At one time he would have and stopped that train of thought because this wasn't like any other time since this started. These people had a watch, they carried guns and grew food. So far this place was better than Alexandria.

"We'll get our guns back?" he asked skeptically.

"What the fuck do we need them for? We have our own," Tony rebutted.

"Alright."

He followed Tony and Ash into the hotel. Except it wasn't a hotel. He didn't see a front desk. It was a ski resort, he expected to see shops. He saw a fireplace. Hardwood floors. Bookshelves. Chairs, loveseats and a few sofas. "Take a seat," he was directed by Tony.

"This is a house," he blurted out.

"Yeah, it is."

"Is this a ski resort?"

Ash shook her head and laughed a little. "Where in the hell do you think you are?"

"Edinburg. We found some brochures at a hotel in West Springfield for a ski resort day riding place."

"Huh," Tony grunted while he pointed to a plaid love seat. He and Ash took seats in the chairs across, the large fireplace behind them. "You're not in Edinburg. You're near Willow Grove, ass."

Ash smirked. "Can't trust those signs, apparently."

Rick frowned. "You switched them out? How in the hell did you do that?"

Tony closed his eyes briefly. "We didn't. You can go to that ski resort if you want. There's nothing there."

"You took everythang?"

"You really are a hillbilly," Ash scoffed. "We took what we needed. The horses, the food. The buildings are still there. Can't tell you what shape they're in. We can stop this right now."

"No. They make a mistake?" Rick asked suspiciously.

"No." Tony replied. "What's your name?"

"Rick. Rick Grimes."

"Okay, Rick Grimes, definitely not from around here, tell us about the cannibals," Ash requested.

Rick told them about the prison and the Governor. He told them about Joe and his buddies. Carl almost getting raped, which made Tony and Ash frown. He told them about finding his people at Terminus and what Carol told him she'd done to save them all. Another man brought in some snap peas and water, so he could eat while he talked.

"Cannibals. Surprising," Tony commented. "Carol sounds bad ass."

"I'm impressed," Ash said to Tony.

"Okay, what happened next?" Tony motioned with his hand to keep talking.

Rick took a deep breath before he started again. He skipped the part about taking over Alexandria, but told them about the Wolves and killing Saviors for food. Meeting Negan and Eric and Nicholas being killed with 'Lucille'. Ash rolled her eyes and muttered something about small dicked men. Tony sighed. "Sounds like an asshole to me. Is that it?"

"We tried fighting him. We didn't kill him, but we killed some of his people," he responded.

"So you don't know if it was this Savior guy that torched the three communities?" Tony leaned forward.

"I doubt it. That man. He needed us."

Tony nodded. "Sounds like it." He sat back in his chair. "Alright, Grimes. That's some shit you're telling us, but I'm not surprised. You and your people can stay here if you agree to the conditions."

"I'll be honest, I don't want to lose my gun. In Alexandria."

"So you said," Ash cut him off. "Do we look like politicians with our heads up our asses? Tony was a cop in New York City. I was an EMT in New York City."

"Which is why we believe you. We've seen some shit," Tony interjected. "Not negotiable. Again, you've been through some shit. Probably have some sort of PTSD, but who doesn't? We won't take the chance. Until you're…acclimated to how things run here, no guns. If we don't have any issues, you'll get them back in a week. We need to see if you and your group will fit in here."

"Anything else?" Ash glared at him.

Rick looked between the two and decided whether or not. "That's it."

Tony nodded. "Where are they? Your people?"

"Waiting on me."

"That's not an answer, but we'll go with it. Run it by them, unless you tell them."

"No. I'm no dictator," he snarled.

"Got it. Not a dictator," Ash huffed.

"Good. We don't do that shit here. Me and Ash, we run Crazy Ass, but we usually talk about things with everyone who lives here."

"How many?" Rick asked.

"How many did you and your people count?" Ash flipped her blond hair over her shoulder.

"Over twenty-five, including kids."

"Twenty-eight, including kids," Tony corrected.

"Crazy Ass?" he laughed a little.

"We're working on a new name," Ash frowned at him.

"Go get your people. It's getting late," Tony advised.

"Thank you."

Rick walked out of the house and out the gate before he whistled. He saw his people walk out from the trees. Carl came running over.

"Are we staying?" he looked up.

He pulled Carl into a hug. "Yes, son, we're staying."

Abraham, Sasha, Glenn, Maggie, Aaron and Jesus slowly walked over. "We're staying." Rick saw Glenn smile a little. Tony walked outside and whistled. They all turned and saw a large group of people stand up, with guns pointed right at them. Two of them broke off and headed over.

"I have some business, Grimes. You and your people find Ash, she'll get you settled," he instructed as he walked over to a black man and another blond woman.

"This way, Grimes," Ash raised her eyebrows and waited.

"You had people watching us," he accused.

"Of course. You can't be too trusting these days," she smirked and held open the gate. "Are you in or out?"

Rick turned back and saw Tony shaking hands with a woman and a man. The woman whirled her hand in the air and everyone started walking away.

"They don't live here?" Maggie gaped.

"Are you in or out?" Ash repeated.

"We're in."

* * *

Glenn, freshly showered, sat on a gurney while Ash gave him a checkup. She wasn't a doctor but had been an EMT in New York City. She acted like he thought all New Yorkers would have. She was curt, did her thing, made notes on one of those metal clipboards he'd seen from TV shows and movies, before telling him to get dressed as she shut the door. This place was not the ski resort day riding place they'd all thought it was. Looking around the empty room, it looked like a bedroom, he noticed they had a lot of medicine. A lot. Even a few machines. He'd seen the lights on in the house when they all entered and he was surprised. They hadn't watched at night though.

After he tied his boots he walked out into the living room where he made his way over to Maggie. She nodded, assuring him she was alright before Tony stood in front of the rest of the group.

"Okay, this is Rick," he pointed to Rick. "Sasha, Jesus, Abraham, Carl, Glenn, Aaron and Maggie," he recited their names as he pointed. "Ash and I said they could stay. They're on probation. No guns for a week. Ash checked them out and they can start helping in a few days. Any questions?"

"Not about them," a dark haired woman responded for the group after looking at the others.

Tony smiled a little. "Okay, Hannah. The Training Grounds and the Castle?"

"Yes. They came. Do we have to pay them, even if they weren't dicks?" she narrowed her eyes.

"According to Seth, we told them about potential dicks. That was the payment. Linda's fine. Business as usual."

She nodded in acknowledgment.

"I'm telling you, Han, Marcy said this Castle lady? She was like 'sure, how many?'" an African American reported.

"It's…kinda cool," Ash smiled.

"I agree. It's kinda cool. I'm glad we did this," Tony agreed. "Grimes, you and your people get a few days off. You'll get a tour and we'll put you on the schedule for watch and dining hall. Right now, Hannah will take you down get you set up in some rooms. We eat around daylight, six if you have a watch that works. Lunch is whatever we have on hand. Dinner? Whoever's on and whatever they make. Any questions?"

Glenn had a lot of questions but decided to keep his mouth shut. Rick looked like he had questions, too, but wasn't saying anything either.

"Who were those people?" Jesus asked.

"They were from the Training Grounds and the Castle. It's not a long story, but you should get settled first. We'll give you the spiel tomorrow." Tony said.

"This way," Hannah stood up and walked toward a door.

* * *

Maggie raised her eyebrows as they were led down a set of stairs. When Hannah opened another door she heard Abraham finally speak.

"Barracks?"

"Kind of," Hannah shrugged. "I guess Tony and Ash's grandfather was a racist. This," she pointed down the hall and started walking. "Was supposed to be the 'Promised Land'," she did air quotes, "for any white people that survived the race wars." Maggie heard the disgust in the woman's voice.

"Seriously?" Sasha huffed.

"It worked out for us. Right now, we're underground. There are three levels. The top, which looks like a regular house. This level, we call them the dorms, extends into the mountains. The bottom level is where the armory, storage, the gym and watch room are located."

"Watch room?" Aaron questioned.

"I'm sure there was another name for it, but we call it the watch room. There are CCTV cameras that surround the property, how we knew you were there," she scoffed. "We have two people per shift."

"Why you don't have much of a watch," Sasha muttered.

"Not up top. Why bother?" Hannah stopped near the end, turned and faced them. "There are a few rooms open. I don't think we'll be accepting any other people until we build something."

"Are you planning on it?" Aaron inquired.

"We've talked about it. Not many people move around anymore, unless something happens. Kind of like you. Anyway, each room has its own bathroom and a closet with the basics; sheets, towels, hygiene products. The beds are twins but you can push them together, if you like." She shrugged. "You probably have a lot of questions, but you can get the answers tomorrow. Lock the doors if it makes you feel better. If you decide to leave, let Brick know. He's on the gate tonight. He'll give your guns back."

"Brick?" Glenn asked.

"Brick. He's the African American man that told us about the Castle lady."

"Right."

"See you in the morning, if you're still here," Hannah walked by them and into a room near the stairs.

"Huh. Castle lady. Training Grounds," Maggie narrowed her eyes as they all stared down the hallway after Hannah.

* * *

Aaron took the bed closest to the wall and Jesus took the one closest to the door. It reminded him of his college dorm room, maybe a little larger. By unspoken agreement they'd decided to stay in one room, even though they could have separated. The group had split up into the pairs. Rick and Carl, Glenn and Maggie, Sasha and Abraham and him and Jesus. So far this was different.

"Race wars," he heard Jesus mutter.

"Did you see the cameras?"

"No. I didn't expect anyone to have any. I'll look for them now," he replied.

"Yeah." Aaron paused. "Does it make you wonder what else survived this?"

Jesus looked up from making the bed. "You mean aside from CCTV?"

"Yeah."

He sat down on the bed. "It does now. America is big with all kinds of people."

Aaron sat on his bed. "Compounds."

"Koresh had one," Jesus reminded him.

"He did. That's the one people heard of. Because of the ATF. How many are out there? Doomsday shelters?"

He shrugged. "Don't know. Those end of the world nuts aren't so nutty now."

Aaron laid down, put his arm behind his head and stared at the ceiling. "No. They weren't so nutty now."

He heard Jesus get up and head into the bathroom. When the water came on Aaron was glad. It wasn't the ski resort, but it had running water. The room where he got examined had medicine and some machines. Alexandria had some but not as much as these people.

Aaron was sad and angry and a whole host of other emotions. Too many to name. He wasn't just mad at Deanna and Rick, but at himself. He had been as sheltered as much as the rest of the Alexandrians. They left to recruit and that was it. They never thought other communities could be out there until him and Rick found Jesus. The few people Deanna did banish, he and Eric never thought where they would go, except back out there. For all he knew they could have turned, joined the Saviors, the Wolves or this other group that burned everyone out. He agreed with Rick and Jesus. Negan had needed them, if only to feed his own ego.

He rolled over and faced the wall. Eric would have found it amusing, ending up here in a racists' bunker.


	5. Chapter 5

Sasha stepped out of the generic looking shower after a full nights' sleep. She couldn't believe she didn't wake up once. She didn't have watch and she wasn't hungry. The Crazy Ass residents fed them leftovers. Real chicken. Barbeque chicken and some salad. She hadn't had chicken in years. It was no wonder she'd slept the entire night. She hadn't eaten like that since they first stepped in Alexandria from the prison. Then the Saviors. Food had become scarce again.

"You die in there?" Abraham yelled through the door.

"I'll be done in a minute," she yelled back.

She dried off, dressed in her dirty clothes and stepped out of the bathroom. Abraham had a towel over his shoulder. "Any hot water left?"

"I don't know."

He rolled his eyes before he walked in and shut the door in her face. She left the room and saw Rick and Carl heading for the stairs. The sound of a door opening had her seeing Jesus and Aaron coming from the room across from her and Abraham. Rick and Carl were next door, Glenn and Maggie across from them. Sasha, Aaron and Jesus headed toward the stairs. Once they reached the house they heard sounds and followed them to a dining room.

Rick and Carl were sitting down, Tony and Ash were with them at a large brown dining room table.

"Have a seat. We have eggs, obviously. We also have oatmeal and pancakes."

"How in the hell?" Aaron blurted out.

Tony frowned. "I'm sure Hannah told you about our crazy ass grandfather, the racist."

Jesus nodded.

"Well, the crazy bastard used this house as a white man's promised land," Ash did air quotes. "He stocked it with a lot. A lot of boxed foods, flour, sugar, coffee."

"Can I have some?" Aaron cut her off.

"Sure." She got up and went through a swinging door.

"The kitchen," Tony informed them. "It's late and most everyone's out doing something. You'll meet everyone later."

Ash came back with a pot and cups. Rick, Jesus, Aaron and herself poured a cup. Sasha sighed. Coffee. Something else she hadn't had in a while. Abraham, Maggie and Glenn walked in. "Coffee," Rick pointed. They sat down and poured their own.

"As I was saying," Tony got their attention. "The kitchen is through that door," he pointed to it again. "Most everyone's out doing something. We're not real structured around here. Just help with the horses or the chickens or the plants. Carl, Hannah was a teacher so you'll sit with her so she can find out where you stand with education. We only have five kids so you'll get individualized instruction. You'll start watch and dining hall if we feel you'll fit in here. No fighting. That's it."

She didn't know what to expect but it didn't seem like much. "Can we carry guns?"

"You watched us for how long and you're asking that question?" Ash asked snidely.

"Yes, you can carry a gun," Tony said. "My name's Anthony. My sister's name is Ashley. Everyone calls us Tony and Ash. Share or don't share, it doesn't matter to us. Except we do want to know your take on the cannibals and the Savior people."

Carl looked at Rick then Tony. "Can I carry a gun?"

Ash raised her eyebrows. "You know how to use one?"

"I've been using one," he wrinkled his nose.

"If your dad says it's okay, sure," Tony agreed.

He smiled.

A few hours later Sasha felt more tired than ever after listening to the others tell their side of things. She learned Hilltop had done some trading with the Kingdom before finding Rick and Aaron.

"Runs? Huh. We call them shopping trips and we don't do many," Ash informed them. "The horses we took from Through B's was our biggest one. Grandpa had pretty much everything to live through an apocalypse."

Tony stood up. "You can rest for a few days. Walk around, get to know us and we'll get to know you. I'd like for all of you to describe these Savior people. Andrew was an artist, we'll get BOLO's out to the other communities."

"'BOLO?" Glenn raised his eyebrows.

"'Be On the Look Out'," Rick answered. "I was Sheriff's Deputy."

"Around here?"

"In Georgia."

"Hm. Good to know," Tony nodded.

"Do we meet back here for lunch?" Abraham spoke up.

"You can eat wherever. In here. In your room. In the living room. Lunch, like we said yesterday, is whatever you can find. You want to cook? Go ahead."

"How?" Jesus waved his hand.

"Generators, camping stoves. Since you're new we'll let you do it for lunch. We're rationing. We'll be doing a shopping trip here soon for more propane. You want to go? We'll take you."

"Feel free to make a fire," Ash offered. "We have wood and barbeques, too."

"We're thinking about making a brick oven," Tony shrugged. "If you stay and you want to do it, or help, we'll take it. We haven't done it before now, but we'll have to do it soon."

"Propane getting harder to find?" Maggie inquired.

"Yes. That and gas. We've shopped the area out, in addition to what good old grandpa had stored. We don't like to go farther than a day out for our shopping trips."

"Why we use the barbeques," Ash added.

"Anyway, just rest. We have books and games in the living room. Try and keep the electric usage down. We have some wind and solar power, but not a lot. Most of what we do use is for the watch room. Go down to the stables, check out the garden. Stay away from the third floor. If you do end up staying you'll see that floor more than you want to."

"Put your dishes in the kitchen when you're done," Ash instructed before they both left the room.

* * *

Rick finished the last of his coffee. He was drinking coffee. "Seems like they're okay," Aaron offered.

"Yeah." He raised his empty coffee cup. "Coffee. Creamer. Sugar."

"I haven't had coffee in years," Jesus said.

"It is nice," Abraham muttered.

"Carl, are you finished?" he looked at his son's empty bowl.

"Yeah."

"We're gonna look around," Rick told the group. He ushered Carl into the kitchen with their empty dishes and put them in the sink before they left the house. This place was as big as the part of the prison they used but not as big as Alexandria. These people seemed alright. Knives and guns. When they went in the horse barn Rick saw three horses. Two kids were brushing a few. They looked at Carl then got back to work. They looked over the bigger garden, the small chicken coop and the rabbit pen. He and Carl watched as one of the women cut a few up and went back inside. They followed her and got permission to look through the house but the rooms with the closed doors. "Those are Tony and Ash's rooms," the woman told them before she headed into the kitchen.

It was a nice three bedroom house. The room from last night was set up as a clinic, like one of the houses in Alexandria. He and Carl finished their explorations and sat in the living room, looking at the bookcases. "Well?" he looked at his son as he sat back.

"It's small. But they have food and I can carry a gun," he gave his opinion.

"Yeah. Maybe we can put them down here," he suggested.

Carl shrugged. "Maybe."

Rick thought he might be fooling himself they'd be able to put down their guns. Maybe Carl could one day. It couldn't be like this forever.

* * *

Abraham could get behind staying here. These people grew food. Alexandria hadn't when they got there. They had guns. Deanna hadn't let them wear any. When Rick took over he did. Not a lot of people, but until he met Glenn and Tara, it had been him, Rosita and her group. He snorted as he walked around the interior of the fence. Trying to get Eugene's lying ass to DC they didn't stay in one place long.

He briefly closed his eyes as he remembered, or tried to, the others he'd found when he left Texas. He missed his family still, but it was getting harder to remember what Ellen, Becca and AJ looked like. He didn't have any pictures and couldn't remember where he'd dropped the one he'd carried overseas. Abraham continued looking around. It didn't matter now. They were gone and he was still here.

They had a nice little set up. Smaller than Alexandria, but they were making it work. The people he saw were puttering in the garden or sitting around. It seemed…peaceful, not running around like an idiot and he wondered how long it would take him to get bored. Looking at the trees turning colors he figured a long, long time.

"What do you think?" he heard Sash ask from beside him. He'd been caught up in his thoughts and hadn't been paying attention. Taking another look around, he relaxed.

He shrugged. "I could live here," he replied.

* * *

Sasha had spent her time walking around like the rest. She'd seen Rick and Carl go into the barn, Maggie and Glenn to the garden, Jesus near the fences and Aaron near the chickens and rabbits. She wasn't…unhinged was as good a word as any, like she was when they reached Alexandria. They'd lost the prison, escaped from cannibals and walked nowhere with no food or water. They'd lost Beth. She'd lost Ty and Bob then ended up in Alexandria.

This place was as good as the prison. Better if they weren't lying about the CCTV. Not as nice of accommodations as Alexandria but nice houses didn't mean shit now. Hell, they were even allowed to carry knives, which she patted comfortingly at her waist.

She saw Abraham walking along the fence line and moved to catch up with him. "What do you think?" she questioned.

He shrugged. "I could live here," he replied.

Sasha wasn't surprised. He'd said he was tired, like all of them. If anything soothed her mind it was Ash and her shitty attitude. Rick kicked her and Ty out of the prison when they got there, after they were locked up. The Governor was smiles. Gareth was smiles. Deanna wasn't smiles, but acted like this shit was temporary. She hadn't seen the Wolves until after they were dead. Negan was smiles too as he threatened and killed. Asshole. If she had to judge who to trust it would be people like Rick and Ashley. The smile men tried to kill you.

"Yeah. I could live here," she echoed.

* * *

Jesus was impressed by Tony and Ash. They didn't have the problems that Hilltop did. He was sure that they wouldn't have acted so accepting if they did have a 'Savior' type problem. He hoped. Still, the mountains were a good idea. A bomb shelter was a good idea. As he walked around he wondered why he'd stayed in Hilltop. Early on he could tell Gregory was a weasel, but he'd lost his partner and staying in one place seemed like the smart thing to do. It seemed like it was all he could do with death surrounding him.

He would have felt bad leaving when the Saviors showed up. He'd grown fond of a few of Hilltop's people and didn't want to leave them. Jesus had gotten used to being around people again and even though it was a shitty situation he didn't want to be by himself any longer. That place had been his home. He'd miss Hilltop, he did miss Hilltop, but this didn't seem like a bad place.

* * *

Aaron walked around and was fascinated. They had food and animals and CCTV. They had an underground barracks. He'd agreed with Deanna about weapons at first, now he knew it was a mistake. It settled him that the people here had some kind of…pointy object. He mostly saw people, except the kids, wearing knives. A few had machetes. The people doing watch wore guns. If this guy had been a racist making plans to survive race wars he was sure there were a lot of guns around.

The people seemed nice. He didn't blame them for not being overtly friendly, like the Alexandrians had been. He took a deep breath, held it in then exhaled. The air here was better. Cleaner. It didn't smell or taste so much like death, despair and misery. This would be a good place to lay his head. Aaron decided right there, unless they were forced out, he'd stay regardless if Rick and the others left. Maybe. He'd been with Rick for a while. He'd known the man a little over a year. A tumultuous year. Considered him a friend. Taking another deep breath and letting it out, he smiled. This was going to work out.

* * *

Glenn and Maggie had spent most of the afternoon, after the talk with Tony and Ash, walking around. It did remind him of the prison. He felt good about this. The biggest sell, in his opinion, was the lack of walkers. At the prison they were always killing them. Here? He hardly saw any and the one he did see was killed by the watch.

The people here weren't friendly, like the Alexandrians had tried to be, but respectful. The weapons were a relief. He hoped Michonne and Daryl had a good place like this. Glenn had always disagreed with Rick for kicking Daryl out. They should have followed him. He shrugged at the questioning look on Maggie's face before he kissed her head. She smiled back and put her arm around his waist, leaning in for a quick hug.

They couldn't change anything now, just…go on. Personally, he didn't think Rick would try and take over here. Tony and Ash seemed to know. He laughed a little.

"What?" Maggie asked as she nudged him.

"I feel…good? I'm not sure how to explain it, Maggie. I'm not happy because of everything we've gone through, but this place? Crazy Ass? I feel good. Like this will work out for us."

He and Maggie made their way back to the house. They saw Rick and Carl in the living room, where they were both reading. It took Glenn by surprise. Not that he didn't doubt Rick knew how to read as much as he was reading. Even at the prison he didn't read. He'd been determined, crazy, fighting, planting, raising pigs with Carl then fighting again. Rick looked up and nodded to both of them.

* * *

Maggie returned the nod they got from Rick before Carl spoke up. "You can look around just stay out of the rooms with the closed doors. Those are Tony and Ash's rooms."

"Thanks, Carl."

A quick look around found Maggie cataloging a nice three bedroom house with the clinic being one room. The living room did have lots of bookcases with one having mostly board games and puzzles. The kitchen was massive. Looking through the cupboards Maggie was amazed at all of the food she saw. Glenn was saying 'wow' under his breath. She could agree with it. All kinds of boxes and cans and jars. It was nice to see.

She and Glenn headed back to the living room in time to see Sasha and Abraham come inside. After giving them the information about Tony and Ash's room they did the same tour. Maggie looked at the book cases and ran her finger over the spines. She'd never been a big reader before this. Or after this. At the farm it was more about trying to keep everythin' normal. She snorted. At the prison it was all about stayin' alive. At Alexandria it was learnin' from Deanna then tryin' to stay alive. At Hilltop is was all about stayin' alive and tryin' to kill the Saviors.

She saw Glenn grab a book and sit on one of the other sofas. She found a book on animal husbandry and decided to look through it. Who knows? If someone had cattle maybe they could trade.

* * *

Aaron was a little surprised when he finally made it back to the house. He didn't think he'd ever seen Rick so calm. He was reading.

"Are you alright?" he asked the man in a low voice.

"Yeah." He paused. Aaron sat down near him with Carl at the other end of the plaid sofa. "I never was a big reader. Now?" he shrugged. "Got nothin' to do until watch or dining hall."

"I like this place," he said.

Rick put his book down on his lap. "Yeah. Seems quiet. I like they don't have walkers at the fences."

"I bet."

Aaron laid his head back. He wasn't really interested in reading. Several people had come and gone but didn't try and talk to them. He, like the others, watched without saying anything. He cringed when he remembered the party Deanna threw them. He and Eric hadn't gone, they'd had dinner with Daryl, but he'd heard the gossip after.

He looked up when Jesus came in, moved to the bookcases and perused the shelves. He took one and headed for the sofa Glenn and Maggie were sitting on.

"What do you think?" Sasha asked.

"I like it. Tony and Ash seem to know what's what," Jesus replied as he leafed through his book.

"I'm staying, if they let me," Abraham replied.

"It seems like a good place," Maggie added.

"I like it," Glenn answered.

* * *

Carl listened to them talk as he read one of the Harry Potter books. It wasn't a bad place. Not as nice as Alexandria. He had to stay in a barracks room with his dad. Not a lot of electricity. Not a lot of kids. Food. Fences. He could carry a gun.

He wished Judith was here. She would've like the rabbits. He missed Enid. He missed Michonne and Daryl. He missed Carol. If they had gone to the mountains instead. He hated the Wolves. The Saviors. Negan.

He hoped this place worked out. His dad seemed okay with it. Now that he wasn't the leader anymore maybe they could work in the garden together, like they had at the prison.

* * *

Tony and Ash sat near the side of the house where they'd opened the living room windows so they could listen the new people.

"They seem alright," Ash finally admitted.

"Seem like it. Still, we're not going to spill anymore about the Training Grounds and the Castle until they're official. Definitely no talking about the Fort or Blue Mountain."

Ash didn't disagree with Tony. She wished Hannah hadn't said anything in front of them. After they came to help she didn't want to screw up this arrangement. They'd only interacted with the Training Grounds and the Castle but if these other communities were a part of this trading slash protection circle? Yeah. Good arrangement.

"Promise," she told her brother.

"What?"

"Our name. Promise."

Tony snorted. "No. What's wrong with the Nagels?"

"The other places have cool names, Tony. We need a cool name."

"How old are you? Ten? Cool name, my ass."

"What about the Bunker?"

He sighed. "Sure, Ash. That sounds good. We're the Bunker and we wear purple armbands."

Ash didn't care Tony wasn't as heavily invested in a new name as she was. She needed something to do. The Bunker sounded cool. She liked purple.

* * *

Tony watched his sister out of the corner of his eye. The Bunker. It didn't sound as cool as Crazy Ass. It was better than what they were called, which was 'That place up by Willow Grove'. He didn't know who the Castle lady was, but she could at least read a map. Her people could read a map.

He needed to pay more attention on the next shopping trip. He figured some of the signs had been blown over by storms, why Grimes and company thought they were near Edinburg. Thinking it over he'd need to put the sign back up. Tony didn't want any more people finding this place. The next group might not be as altruistic as the Castle or as beaten down as Grimes and his group.

They were beaten down. Grimes looked like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. Tony knew the man didn't tell them everything, but what he did tell them was appreciated. He missed CNN. Having to rely on others grated, but he and Ash felt responsible for the people that lived here. They found most of them at the high school in Edinburg, after they knew how bad it was. Andrew and Lisa, brother and sister, had been through hikers who'd decided to hunker down after the third town they'd found off the Trail in Virginia was crawling with those skineaters.

"We need to get Andrew to draw pictures of these Savior people," he reminded Ash.

"If we tell them we need more than three, Tony, they may start asking questions."

She did have a good point.

"We'll have Andrew draw six. We don't have to tell them shit."

"If they ask?"

"Extras. We'll keep two here, send the others to the Training Grounds. Linda will get them to the Castle."

"Do you think it's really a castle?" Ash asked after a few minutes.

"That'd be some shit."


	6. Chapter 6

Dinner was quiet. Rick and Carl sat at the table and Jesus could see some of the kids talking to them. Carl was new and any adults near them were listening hard to the conversations. Including Hannah, the school teacher. He assumed that one of the little kids was Hannah's. Tony and Ash weren't around but a quick question from Aaron found they were down in the watch room.

"The schedules are on the refrigerator," an older white man with brown hair explained. "I'm Andrew, by the way. Tony asked me to sit with all of you."

"Are you a police artist?" Rick asked.

"No, I'm an artist. I can draw what you describe to me."

"After dinner?" Glenn interjected.

"It would be better during the day. We try and curb unnecessary electricity usage. We have candles but it's better during the day."

"What do you do then?" Maggie looked up from her bowl.

"Live. Did you want to do something else?" a young Hispanic woman spat.

Maggie scoffed. "No, I like livin', too. I was."

"Maria," Hannah chided before she looked at Maggie. "It depends. Some of us go to the gym, some of us play games, by candle light, read books. We have some cd players and batteries, so we'll listen to music. Talk. You'll find we're not very exciting."

Several other people spoke up. "If it's nice out I go out and stargaze," an older brown haired woman interjected. "I'm Lisa. Andrew's sister."

"I'll knit or crochet," another older woman with red hair contributed. "I'm Betty."

"We have some craft supplies," Hannah added.

"Do you have winter clothes?" a blond woman asked. "I'm Jess."

* * *

Rick froze. Another blond named Jessie. Shit. He looked at Carl quickly and saw his son was frowning. "No. No we don't."

"You'll need some," the woman responded before she sipped her drink. "According to the calendar it's August. Before you know it, it'll be snowing soon."

"We have some we can give you, if you work out here," Hannah said.

"How do you know what month it is?" Sasha leaned forward.

"I made it. It's probably not accurate to the day," Hannah explained, "but it's close. Maybe."

"It's a nice place," Glenn exclaimed.

There was some laughter. "It's a place, Glenn. We do the best with what we have," Hannah commented.

"Right," he sagged in his chair.

"Shopping trip?" Aaron inquired.

"You've never done shopping trips?" the African American man, Brick, sounded shocked.

"We have," Rick assured them. "We call them runs. And the skineaters, walkers."

Maria frowned. "Runs?"

"Interesting name," Jess interrupted. "Walkers, too."

"You'll have to bear with us," Andrew smiled. "We haven't had any new people since my sister and myself. Seven months ago?" he looked at Hannah.

"Seven and a half months," she corrected.

"Seven and a half months. We're used to each other by now."

"Got that shit right," a Hispanic man walked through the dining room and into the kitchen.

"That's Hector," Jess pointed to the swinging door.

* * *

"It snows? How much?" Glenn tried again.

"It depends. I think we had, what, twelve inches last winter?" Andrew looked at Hannah.

"About that, yes. It was a fun time," the sarcasm in her voice was very apparent. "Getting to the horses."

"It wasn't that bad, Han," another African American male retorted as he passed Hector on his way to the kitchen.

"It wasn't. I've been through storms that dropped that much in a day," Hector commented before leaving the dining room.

"The kids liked it," Lisa noted. "Snowball fights."

"It wasn't bad," another young white man passing through to the kitchen, remarked.

"Those two were Keaton, the black guy and Mike, the white guy," Hannah informed them.

"What do you do with the horses in the winter?" Aaron questioned.

"They need to be taken out and exercised," Maria huffed. "We take them outside the fence."

"Is that safe?" Maggie inquired.

"Nothing is safe," Maria shot back.

"Are you on your period, Maria, or did you and Steve have another fight?" Jess sniped.

"What the heck, Maria? These people are new here. No need to be a bitch to everyone else if things aren't going well in your little world," Lisa sneered.

The woman stood up and left the room.

"Bitch," Andrew frowned.

* * *

"Don't pay any attention to her," Lisa rolled her eyes.

"Who's Steve?" Aaron inquired.

"Esteban, her husband. I swear I think they fight to give themselves something to do," Jess huffed.

"She needs to find a better hobby," Andrew deadpanned.

"She does," Hannah agreed.

"She acts like it was only her life that was affected." Lisa scorned.

"Enough about her," Jess waved the subject of Maria off. "Ash told me that your last place was burnt down. On purpose?"

"Yes," Jesus bit out. "All of them were."

"There were more of you? How many?" Lisa leaned forward in her chair, an intent expression on her face. "My brother and I didn't see any people, not good people, until we found this place."

"Four," Aaron replied after a glance at Rick.

"What assholes," Brick snorted.

"Have you had…problems?" he inquired.

Everyone turned to him with varying expressions on their faces. "Problems? Man, we all have problems," another voice scoffed from the other end of the table. He was white with dark hair. "My name's Dave. If you mean someone trying to burn us out? No."

"We had a few close calls with people. We usually shoot and they leave," Hannah shrugged.

"Cannibals?" Jess raised her eyebrows. "That's a new one. Tony and Ash gave us your background," she explained.

"Disgusting," Lisa shuddered.

"Thank you for killing them," Andrew spoke.

"I…can't imagine what I would have done if I'd stumbled on them. Probably been eaten," Hannah shivered. The little girl next to her held her hand tight.

* * *

"Where were you?" Jesus probed.

"Most of us were at Edinburg High. Tony and Ash, they didn't know. I guess their grandfather died and they were out here going through his things, trying to decide what to do. They went to Edinburg to the lawyer's office. All of a sudden they were at the high school, saying there was a better place we could stay, until this was under control. We were running out of food and the army had stopped coming around, so we went with them," Jess finished with a shrug. "Here we are. Almost three years later. Still not under control."

"And on that depressing note," Andrew stood, "I'm going to bed. Rick, I hope you work out." He waved as he left. It seemed to be the cue for everyone else to leave, Jess going into the kitchen.

"Three years?" Glenn gaped.

"They said the calendar isn't accurate, Glenn," Sasha pointed out.

"Could be right. We spent almost eight months from the quarry til we got to the prison. Judith," Rick's voice broke, "she was about six months when," he trailed off.

"About six months in Alexandria," Maggie continued, "before me and Glenn left."

"Another seven or so months until Hilltop was lost," he added. "Three years sounds right." Voicing it made him tired too. "I'm going to bed." He took his dishes to the kitchen, put them on the counter Jess nodded toward and left. He didn't say anything else.

When he made it to his room he got in bed and stared at the ceiling. It made it worse knowing how long this had been going on. Everything he'd lost.

"Three years," he heard Aaron say as he walked in their room. "It's a long time."

"Yeah," he sighed. "It's a long time."

* * *

Glenn laid in bed with Maggie. He knew she wasn't sleeping. Dinner had been interesting. Up until now, he'd never given a thought to what other people had done while they'd been at the prison or on the road or in Alexandria and Hilltop. He'd never thought to ask Jesus what made Hilltop come together. Alexandria he knew because Deanna had told them.

"Three years," he muttered.

"Yeah. We've been through a lot," Maggie responded.

He did something he hadn't done in a long time. "Night, Maggie." He turned his back to her in bed. He didn't want conversation, he needed to think. Think about where he started out and where he ended up. He wouldn't leave here if he could help it.

He'd lost so much. So many people. Sophia, Amy, Jim, Andrea, T-Dog, Jacqui and Dale from Atlanta. Glenn tried to remember what Jacqui looked like. Jim. They thought he'd gone crazy when he started digging those holes in the ground. Then he met Rick, the dumb ass. Covering himself in walker guts. Handcuffing Merle on the roof of that store. He knew he should have gone by himself because it ended up being a clusterfuck. Rick and Daryl and Shane fighting because they'd left Merle. Taken hostage by the Vatos. Rick and Daryl and T-Dog coming to get him. Leaving those guns. Those people were probably dead by now. He wanted to go check. See if Jim really killed himself.

He was so young when this started. He was just a pizza delivery guy.

* * *

Maggie was a little hurt when Glenn turned away from her. It was hard hearing how long everyone here thought this had been going on. She sighed. Three years. She missed the farm the most. Back before this started. Her and Beth and Shawn had been so sheltered.

When the walkers first showed up and her daddy wanted to try and save them. Sticking them in the barn, waiting for a cure. She never knew when they put Carol's daughter in there. Otis usually did it. Patricia and Annette. She hadn't thought about them in…years.

Maggie tried not to think about her daddy and Beth. It wasn't fair she was the only one left. She still hated Shane after all this time. He started it. She thought her daddy would have listened to Rick eventually, instead he just went off. All those walkers coming out of the barn. Maggie closed her eyes tight and hunched in on herself. Then he tried to kill Rick. Over Lori. Maggie didn't really care for her anyway.

The herd overrunning the farm. Leaving. The barn on fire. Losing Shawn. Andrea. Finding out you didn't have to be bit or scratched just die. Wandering for months. Finding the prison. It was nice to have a safe place. The Governor.

* * *

Carl figured he was thirteen or fourteen if this had been going on for three years. Three years. The quarry was nice. Him and Shane taking care of his mom. Doing homework. Swimming. Running around with Sophia and George Morales' kids. His dad showing up. He knew they'd be alright. His dad found them. The walkers coming. Amy being bit. He'd liked Amy. Going to Atlanta, the CDC had been scary. Standing outside, then the doors opening. Eating a good dinner. Trying wine, which still tasted like crap.

Dr. Jenner trying to kill them. Jacqui staying. Leaving and the place blowing up. Getting stuck on the road. More walkers. Sophia screaming and running off. Getting shot. He rubbed his hand over his chest, feeling the raised skin from the scar. Hershel saving him. He didn't remember a lot, just pain.

Killing Shane because he was going to kill his dad. Now that he was older he knew his mom and Shane got together. Maggie cutting his mom open to get Judith. He had to put her down. Tears fell down his cheeks. _'You are gonna beat this world. I know you will'._

Carl didn't really think about that kid he shot when the Governor tried to take over the first time. He'd believed he did what he had to do. His dad. He'd been so disappointed in his dad, so mad at everything. Shane. His mom. Judith. Himself for not killing the walker that killed Dale. He felt bad now. He didn't want to kill anymore. He wished the Governor had never found them. Or Michonne and Daryl had found him and killed him. They could still be there. Hershel, Beth and Ty would still be alive.

He wished the Saviors never existed. Alexandria was nice. It was almost like living in his old house in King County. He missed Enid. He missed Judith. He missed Michonne and Daryl. He missed his mom.

* * *

Three years of hell. Sasha couldn't get it out of her mind. With nothing to do she had plenty of time to think and remember. Staying with Ty in their neighbor's bomb shelter. Leaving when they ran out of food. Finding Ben and his family. Finding the prison. Being kicked out by a crazy Rick. Being found by the Governor. That stupid plan. She was glad she and Ty really didn't know what was going on. As much as she'd hated Rick at that point, she and Ty wouldn't have tried to kill them.

The prison. Being on the council. Daryl bringing people in. Bob. The flu. The attack. Taking off with Maggie and Bob. Maggie leaving. Terminus. Carol blowing the place up. Losing Ty at Noah's. Walking with no food or water. Aaron. Alexandria. Killing walkers outside the walls. Carol holding Deanna hostage. Rick taking over. Hilltop. The Kingdom. The Saviors. Negan.

Now she could admit to herself they should have left with Daryl.

* * *

Abraham knew Sash was in the other bed thinking of what had happened to her during the, fuck, three years since this thing started. He didn't blame her. He'd done it. He was done doing it. Shit happened. Couldn't change it. They had a nice place here.

* * *

Three years swirled around in Aaron's mind. Three years. It didn't seem that long but at the same time it seemed it should be longer than that. Meeting Deanna and her plans for Alexandria. Eric and he recruiting. Surviving the Wolves only for Eric to die at the bat of a madman. Scrambling to pay tribute to a psycho who though he was god. He was their new god. For a while.

This place would be different. The fact that Tony and Ash had reinforcements if they'd turned out to be like the Saviors. They traded. They were cooperating. If the Saviors found them, this place, things would be different. Hopefully.

* * *

Rick laid on his bed and stared into the dark. He'd read. Relaxed. He wasn't in charge. Tony and Ash seemed alright. He could get used to this. The people sitting around when they had toured the place startled him for a minute until he remembered the prison. They weren't always doing runs. They hadn't always been preparing for the Governor. They'd had time to just be. Him and Carl worked the garden and took care of the pigs. He'd done runs if he'd needed to. He hadn't made any decisions. Rick knew he could lead people but when it started piling up he got tangled and started making bad decisions.

PTSD, he scoffed. Yeah, he had that. Had since he woke up, he guessed. Tony was right. All of them had PTSD. Maybe here, just living, would help.

He needed to have Carl sit with Hannah. School. Carl needed to learn somethang other than killing walkers or people. He knew he'd had a hard time when they got to Alexandria, but he put that down to Deanna and her refusal to see what it was like. He stopped thinking about that place. It was gone and they weren't.

* * *

 **A/N: Unreliable narrators. No one really knows how long this has been going on. I'm hand waving the time line for this story. It won't follow the show as the actors (especially Carl) aged more than what they would have IRL.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: TWD fanfiction is a crowded one, with excellent writers and excellent stories. I'm grateful for the amount of views and visitors this and all of my stories have received. Thank you to those that are still reading this.**

* * *

Tony looked at Ash as she read the invitation. It's what it was. An invitation. To the Castle. To talk about the future.

"We're gonna go, right?" she asked.

"Yeah. Us, Brick and Jess."

"Are you putting Grimes in charge while we're away?"

"They've been here for eight months and no problems. He ran other places."

"Places he lost, Tony," she reminded him.

"Yeah, but he has experience. Nothing too exciting happens here."

Tony knew she couldn't disagree with the statement. Plus, they had weapons out the ass. He loved the hand grenades. "Ford's here, too," she muttered.

"It's nice having an army guy," Tony smiled.

"Sometimes. That guy."

"Yeah, he can be a bit much with those stupid sayings but he can build, which came in handy."

* * *

Ash sighed. Grimes and his group were a help and not a hindrance, she hated to admit. She still couldn't talk to that guy for long. His accent drove her nuts. He did love his kid. Carl was a good boy. They were good on shopping trips. Glenn Rhee was the best, in her opinion. They'd learned a lot from him.

His wife, Maggie, had lived on a farm and she'd been a boon there. Paul Monroe was a good fighter. She'd seen him and Brick practicing. Ash shrugged her shoulders. "Okay. Why Jess? Just because you guys are involved?"

Tony glared. "No. She's good at reading people. Between the four of us, I figured we could handle it."

"Let's take Monroe, just in case," she suggested.

"Why?"

"How many people know karate?" she shot back.

"It's a meeting, Ash, not a cage match. The Castle hasn't burned us yet."

"Not for the Castle, for the trip. Who the hell knows? We don't get out a lot, Tony. Fine by me. I'd rather be alive then dead. Or worse, one of those things. Yeah, the Castle patrols, but monthly, not every day. They don't always know what the hell's going on."

"True. We'll leave Brick here and take Monroe."

"That'll work."

"Plus, he has that whole 'Jesus' look going on. He doesn't look like a threat. Brick is scary looking."

She couldn't disagree. Brick looked like a tank.

"We have another two weeks." Tony waved around the calendar that was provided. "Nice."

"The calendar was a nice touch. I'm actually looking forward to meeting this woman."

"It'll be different. I wish she'd put an agenda or something in with this," he grumbled.

Ash laughed. "This is insane."

Tony rolled his eyes. Ash knew he was looking forward to this, too. They didn't really do anything. Maybe she could meet a nice-looking woman.

* * *

"Sure, I'll go," Jesus accepted. "Are you expecting trouble?"

Tony shook his head. "No, but you don't look threatening. We're not worried about the Castle as much as we're worried about the trip. We, as you know, don't really go anywhere aside from shopping."

He did know. At first, it was hard to get used to staying in one place. He wasn't running around trying to find things for Hilltop or trying to find the Saviors or playing messenger boy. He actually liked just...being still. Working in the garden. Playing board games. Reading. He still didn't like the horses and the chickens were little assholes. He liked the eggs, he didn't like killing them. Brick could at least keep up with him in karate, so he stayed in shape and in practice. He wasn't going to lie, it would be nice to check out this Castle place.

A month after they'd been here Rick asked about the 'Castle Lady' and finally got an answer. What she'd done was what they had been doing, except they did a monthly trail patrol and they weren't fighting off a group like the Saviors. Jesus thought all the communities should contribute people. It was a damn good idea. The armband idea was inspired. They'd seen some people from the Training Grounds and they had yellow armbands. None of them saw the armbands when they first arrived.

It would be nice to get out, not that they couldn't leave, but there really wasn't anything around. The Bunker (Crazy Ass) had shopped a lot of the surrounding area out. Not that they needed a lot. Between what they grew and what had been around they had enough. They had enough guns and hand grenades. Tony and Ash's grandfather hadn't been fucking around. He did go out and scout the surrounding area when he felt like it. Him and Aaron had gone hunting a few times. Aaron hunted while he just tagged along.

It was a good place. He was glad he agreed with Rick's suggestion and even though they didn't end up where they thought they were going, they did alright.

"It's in two weeks. We'll let everyone know tonight," Tony's voice broke through his thoughts.

"Okay." Jesus headed to the garden.

* * *

Rick sat, stunned, as Ash asked him to watch over the Bunker (Crazy Ass) while she and Tony and Jesus and Jess left in two weeks.

"Hannah will help with anything you need. The schedule for the watch room will be finished. We don't expect to be gone long. A day, maybe two. That okay with you, Grimes?"

"Yeah," he cleared his throat. "I can handle thangs here."

She nodded like she expected it. "Good. We're not sure what she wants to talk to us about. The future, whatever the hell that means."

"Is the Training Grounds invited?" Betty asked.

"We don't know. Tony wants to send someone there tomorrow. We'll do a little shopping while we're out. Glenn, you want to lead that?"

"Sure. I, uh, none of us have ever been."

"No reason, until now," she countered. "Gas and propane, always. We probably won't find any. Books, games, batteries, medicine. Again, we probably won't find any. I'm sure the Training Grounds have been through the towns closest to them. We have. Linda doesn't strike me as letting grass grow. We'll still check."

"Maybe we can take a list of books we have. Trade?" Betty suggested.

"Good idea. We'll do that. Can someone start on it?"

"I'll do it," Taylor offered. "Maybe Carl can help me."

"Sure," he shrugged.

"It's good practice for you, Taylor," Hannah encouraged her.

Rick watched his son squirm in his seat. Taylor was a little eight year blond girl that followed Carl around after they were accepted. If she was older, like Enid, Rick would, well, he'd be talking to Carl about sex. He refused to think about it. Like it or not, Carl would grow up and want to have sex. Here, he could maybe have kids. He groaned. Hannah shot him a puzzled look. He shook his head.

He liked Hannah. She'd been a high school teacher. She was raising Taylor. He never asked why, she never offered. He knew Taylor's parents were dead. He'd stayed away from Jess, not Jessie. The one and only time he'd slipped and called her Jessie she gave him a condescending look and told him she wasn't fifteen and he could call her Jess or Jessica. Thinking about it made him laugh a little.

He liked this place. After they were accepted they were able to carry their guns and Carl had school. They'd both had to work with the horses and Carl liked doing it. He said it reminded him of Michonne, which made him wince. They settled into a routine here. They worked the garden, the chickens and the rabbits. He spent his down time, there was a lot, helping Carl with his homework when he could, reading and throwing a football or baseball around with him and the others. Having adult conversations that didn't center on finding food or planning for wars. It was nice he didn't have any other responsibilities but Carl and making sure he did what was needed.

Winter had had him and Carl outside having snowball fights with the little bit of snow they got. Glenn and Jesus had joined a couple of times, along with the rest of the kids. Betty had knitted Carl a nice blue hat, telling him it complimented his eyes. Carl had rolled them, but smiled.

They lived, like Maria had snapped at Maggie on their first night at dinner. He was doing better. Carl was doing better. They both still wore guns outside, but Rick had started putting his down inside the house. He respected Ash and Tony. Tony took his suggestion to put spikes on the outside of the gate, even though they didn't get a lot of walkers. Another nice thang. He could make suggestions and they weren't brushed off. He knew Maggie liked that.

Sometimes he thought of going back to bury Carol. He felt he owed her that much, but looking at Carl's face, all flushed and irritated, make him rethink. He owed Carol, but he owed Carl more. After all the deaths, disappointments, disasters and close calls he owed his son a father. One that stuck around and didn't take risky chances. Not knowin' if Negan was around put a stop to him going back.

He wasn't worried how he'd do when Tony and Ash were gone. Glenn was talking about the run they were planning the next day, not once shooting him a worried look. All of his people were relaxed. Even Sasha.

* * *

Abraham watched the monitors in the watch room. It was a good set up here. The gym, he spent a lot of time there, was nice. Top of the line equipment. He'd never thought much of racist assholes, everyone bleeds red, but this guy, crazy ass grandpa, he'd had some good taste. It was nice here. Nice not running around like chickens, trying to get protection food. He liked being able to sit down in a secure place and do watch instead of at the gate or in the tower. It kind of reminded him of command centers overseas.

He and Sasha had made their own calendar and it was good being able to cross off days. They'd been here eight months and five days. There weren't a lot of walkers. In the summer there were more, in the winter they dropped off. The only people anyone saw were the others that lived here, the monthly patrol, blue armbands, and an occasional trade with the Training Grounds, yellow armbands.

Tony and Ash said there were a few more communities, different color armbands, but they hadn't made an appearance yet. Everything ran through this Castle place. He was considering asking Tony if he could join the Castle patrol. He didn't get out much, no one did, but he could do a patrol. Abraham had done a few shopping trips, like everyone else but the kids. Tony was insistent everyone do it, not just a select few. Another good idea. Aiden had been a jackass. Deanna had been blind. Even though he never had an ounce of respect for her or Reg, being stabbed was a bad way to go.

He sighed. It had been a long time since he thought of Rosita. Hector side eyed him. "Just thinking," he muttered.

"You can do that?" he joked.

"Sometimes," he joked back.

* * *

Sasha was laying in her bed, staring at the ceiling. It had taken a while, but she was calm. Calmer than she thought she could be after everything. It was nice here. Some of the people were assholes, Maria for one, but everyone knew what the hell to do with walkers. Shopping trips were short and sweet. She thought of asking Ash if she could plan one. They could go back to the mall. Try more of the cars. No way would she even consider going inside. If they had flame throwers maybe. It would be a gamble. They didn't know if the Saviors were the ones to set Alexandria on fire. She wouldn't bet on it. Negan had needed them to feed his ego, but he'd had to have been pretty pissed at Rick, Maggie and King Ezekiel for that gun battle. She'd seen some of the Saviors shot. Not Arat, the bitch. That would have been nice.

Eight months and five days. It was gratifying seeing concrete evidence of their survival. Sometimes Sasha felt restless. It was nice not having to scurry around, hide or fight, but aside from shopping, she liked the word better than runs, she wanted to get out more. She could, no one was forced to stay inside, but she needed a goal. Shopping? She could do that. She'd read everything they had that interested her. She wasn't much into in board games. The puzzles, some of them were alright. She wished they had more electricity. She could sit back and watch some TV. They had alcohol here and she, occasionally, liked to have a glass of wine, sit with Maggie, Glenn and Aaron.

She was trying with the others. They didn't have any Alexandrian wannabe's. Lisa was caustic, Jess was snooty and Hannah was okay. A little too insipid for her taste. She laughed. Jess and Michonne would not get along. Sasha always sensed Michonne could be snooty. She was…alive and not here.

Sasha regretted, also occasionally, her interactions with Michonne near the end. It hadn't been fair, in her mind, it had worked out for her when she'd lost so much. She and Michonne had been friends. Maybe one day, this world was crazy, they'd meet again.

* * *

Glenn watched Maggie as she came out of the bathroom in some lingerie he'd gotten from their last run. It was red and see through. He'd gotten a lot of shit from Keaton and Dan, but Ash gave her thumbs up. She was a lesbian so she would know, she'd told him. He smiled. "You look nice."

She smiled and wiggled her eyebrows. "Thank you for the gift," she whispered. It had taken them a few months to get back to where they had been at the prison. They'd worked through a lot of shit. Being here, not waiting for more bad to happen, helped. Helped a lot. They were trying again. When she lost the baby at Hilltop, Maggie had been devastated. In a way, losing Hilltop, Alexandria and the Kingdom was the best thing that could have happened to them. It made Glenn cringe when he thought things like that, even though, sometimes, it was true.

He and Maggie had become semi-advisors to Tony and Ash fast.

Maggie finally made it to the bed, leaned down and kissed him deep. He pulled her on the bed.

* * *

She couldn't help laughing as she almost fell on the floor. After they made love, she forgot how intense it could be, the zip ties were stretched out and she was in the center of the two cots being held up by the sheet. "Are you alright?" Glenn asked in shock.

"I'm fine, Glenn. Guess we need more zip ties," Maggie giggled as her husband, naked, got out of bed and tried to push them together. "Wait," she choked out and moved to her cot.

Glenn pushed them together muttering about getting another bed. "These zip ties just aren't cutting it," he grumbled.

"You should look for one tomorrow," she said as she stopped laughing.

"I will," he promised before diving under the covers. He pulled her close, kissed her again and settled back.

"You were right," she whispered as she snuggled into him.

"I usually am. Ow. Why'd you do that?" he complained as he rubbed the nipple she just pinched.

"Cocky much, Rhee?" Maggie snorted.

"Hey, if I don't agree with you will you do that again? It hurt," he whined.

She kissed him. "Maybe."

"What am I right about? Since it doesn't happen often," he said sarcastically.

"Ha ha. This place. It's good."

"It is a good place."

"Maybe we needed to go."

He put his hand on her mouth. "We didn't need to go through all that, Maggie. Shit just…happened. We found a good place. Tony and Ash are good people."

Maggie swirled her finger on Glenn's chest. "They are. Even Sasha's settled down."

"Rick?" he questioned.

Maggie knew what Glenn was asking. "I stopped bein' really mad at him when we were on the road here. Rick," she sighed. "He needed to step down. Like at the prison."

Glenn hummed. "Yeah. We did, too."

"We did, too. Or maybe we just needed to leave." Maggie paused. "He's not goin' back."

Glenn was silent for a while. "No. He's not going back. Do you think we should?"

It was her turn to be quiet. "No. Abraham put her down. It's enough."

"Tara?"

That was hard. They never tried to look for her. "No. I know she was with us for a long time, Glenn, but if she made it out where the hell would we look? Does Rick even know where she was?"

"We've never talked about what happened, Maggie. None of us. Not really. We were crazy, it was crazy then we came here. Tara? If she made it out she probably found another place."

"The Saviors may have found her though, Glenn."

"Eugene, the ass, he'd protect her."

"I hope so."

"We can't change it now."

"No, we can't change it now." It was her new saying. They couldn't change it. "Do you miss them?"

"Miss who?"

"Daryl and Michonne."

Glenn sighed. "I don't know. Sometimes? Yes. Sometimes, no."

"I hope they're doin' alright."

He snorted. "They are."

Maggie believed it, too.

* * *

Carl was at the third bookshelf, writing down the titles. He grimaced as his dad talked to Hannah. Somehow it was going to be more homework for him. Although, he thought his dad liked Hannah. She was better than Jessie Anderson. She could kill walkers. He watched her do it one time when she was walking the perimeter. Straight in the head with a knife. Not as good as Michonne.

He liked this place, even though he had to do homework. His dad liked this place. It was good for him. Good for Glenn and Maggie. Abraham liked it. He was saying dumber things than before. Sasha stopped being a bitch. Aaron smiled more. So did Jesus. He did, too. He liked spending time with his dad. Throwing a football, snowball fights. He even liked the gardening they did together.

It was nice to know the Saviors wouldn't find them. He wished there were kids his age here. Taylor was the oldest and she was only eight. Maybe one day they'd get more kids. After he finished his book case he headed to his and his dad's room. He'd like to have his own room, like in Alexandria. He wished he could use more electricity. Carl was going to ask his dad to talk to Tony about getting solar panels, like they had had in Alexandria. Then he could get better video games than the little hand held one he used. He'd played all the games on it already. Hundreds of times. When someone did shopping trips, he liked runs better, video games were last on the list. Batteries wouldn't last forever.

* * *

Aaron sat in the living room reading a book. The announcement about Tony and Ash going to the Castle to talk about the future was the hot topic of the night. It would probably be the hot topic for the next year. He shook his head. Alexandria had been the same. People didn't change. He could understand, a little. Any new thing to break up the monotony.

He liked the monotony. These eight months here were needed. Running around like an idiot in Alexandria had been depressing and tiring. Aaron sure as hell didn't miss the killing, searching for payment or scrambling just to stay alive. He missed Eric, but he was getting better. He and Jesus still shared a room. At times, he felt like he was back in college, without the wild parties that had gone on around him. And the few he had attended. It was nice and he wasn't alone.

Aaron was honest with himself. He liked the Bunker (Crazy Ass) better than he had Alexandria. Deanna and Reg had been nice people, but he and Eric would have been better off here. It had been too dangerous to move around in the beginning, then they stayed. Looking back he knew why they did. It had been comfortable and like before, when they'd had a real home. They could have survived leaving. It didn't matter now, they couldn't change anything.

Looking at Rick when Ash asked him to watch over the place when they were gone, he knew the man could handle it. The changes in all of them, in him. He wouldn't back down if Rick went off the rails again. Following him had been a good idea. One he didn't regret. Yes, he lived with people in one building instead of living in his own house. Yes, he had to cook for thirty plus people. Yes, electricity was 'rationed'. These minor inconveniences were worth it for a good, safe place to live.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Kind of a fluff/filler chapter.

* * *

Glenn drove up the drive and through the gate being held open by two people, before pulling the truck up in front of a large wooden building. "It was a ski resort," Tony laughed at the, he was sure, shocked look on his face. "You can wait here," he threw out before exiting the car, purple armband on. He took the opportunity to look at his own armband. Usually they only wore them shopping, in case one of the other communities was in the area. So far, they hadn't seen anyone else. Which made sense. Everyone, if they could, found a place and stayed. It wasn't like before and you could just up and move. Hell, if the asshole Governor hadn't shown up with a tank, they'd all be living in the prison. Not Aaron, Jesus or Abraham. He refused to think what would have happened to them if they'd stayed in the prison.

A dark haired man and a blonde woman came out of the resort. The woman nodded and looked at the truck. Tony waved his hand, indicating Glenn and Andrew could join him.

"Linda, Glenn, Andrew," Tony introduced them to the leader of the Training Grounds.

"Brock," she pointed to the dark haired guy. "Yeah, we got one. I'm taking Brock. You?"

"Me, Ash, Paul and Jess."

Linda nodded. "We could go together."

"I'll ask Ash. We may want to shop while we're out."

"Good luck trying to raid down that way," Brock murmured.

Glenn took the time to look around the ski resort. He saw chickens, cabins, some gardens, kids and adults. It looked like their place, except they had cabins. He watched as two men and a woman came out of the closest one, guns hung on their shoulders by straps, and head down the drive. Glenn had stopped paying attention to Tony and Linda and just looked around. He liked the Bunker (Crazy Ass). It was safe. It would be nice if he and Maggie had their own place, like in Alexandria and Hilltop. Maybe one day.

Still, this was nice to see. Whenever he'd seen Rick or King Ezekiel or Carol before, they all looked like the walking dead Rick had once called them. He knew he'd looked the same. Why he hadn't bothered looking in the mirror much. The barn seemed so far away, so far in the past.

Glenn remembered lying in bed at Hilltop, hoping the Saviors would fall off the face of the earth. Alexandria, Hilltop and the Kingdom could have been like this. Trading, which they did. But, just going to visit, without the threat of Negan and his goons. They could have lived a nice life there. They could have lived a nice life in the prison. Now, they had a nice life at Crazy Ass.

"…waiting when we get back," he tuned in to hear what Linda said.

"Ok. We'll see you in two weeks. Uh, anything around here?"

Brock laughed. "No, man. We raided pretty much everything from Shavertown to South Jackson."

"We keep talking about heading into Mount Jackson," Linda shrugged. "Maybe we can do it together."

Tony nodded. "It might not be a bad idea. We've shopped out Edinburg, Willow Grove and a few other places up our way."

They spoke for a few minutes more about shopping Mount Jackson. Glenn thought if both groups sent people it would be good. They could get more. They didn't need food, but batteries, gas and propane were always wanted.

"I'll see you in a few weeks," Linda nodded once again and headed back inside. Tony, Andrew and Glenn headed for their truck. "Okay. Since we're out we'll head toward Calvary."

"Can I get a bed?"

Andrew chuckled as he got in the truck. "Those cots are hard on the back."

His mouth dropped open while Tony laughed. "We never said you couldn't, Glenn. One of the things we shopped for right after we found out how bad it was. Me and Ash have some nice comfortable furniture."

"Does everyone," he trailed off.

"Yeah. They do. Haven't you been in any of the other rooms?" Andrew questioned.

"No."

"Hm. Sure. Anyone can grab what they want, you just need to make sure you look for what Crazy Ass needs first, if you're on a shopping trip."

"Good to know," he muttered.

Tony rolled his eyes. "You could have done it whenever, Glenn. We're not your jailers. I'm sure some of the others would help if you asked. Go on your own, if you want."

Glenn conceded he didn't think about it. "Okay. Are there any furniture stores around?"

"Edinburg," Andrew answered promptly.

"Can't guarantee how nice it'll be," Tony said.

"Can we take the truck, me and Maggie?" Glenn asked.

"Fill it up," he directed.

"Thanks."

"Make sure it's bug free," Tony stated.

"Yeah," he replied. Glenn didn't think about bugs being in furniture. At the camp they stayed in tents. They had bugs. At the farm they stayed outside. They had bugs. At the prison they stayed in cells. They didn't have bugs. Everyone cleaned out cell block A and Carol had been a stickler about cleaning. They had bugs again after they had to leave. Bugs? Not in the houses. He and Maggie kept their house pretty clean. Hilltop? They had ant problems in the trailer. With all of them living basically like the prison, but with nicer rooms, bugs wouldn't make anyone happy.

The first place in Calvary they stopped in was a library. Glenn looked at the hole in the roof, shrugged and headed inside. Andrew watched the door while he and Tony looked through the books available. Inside was horrible. There were two walkers that were barely able to walk. Glenn ignored them while trying to find books that weren't too degraded. After taking all the paper and crayons inside they concentrated on the cars. He sat in the back on the way home. He was going home. They'd found ten gallons of gas, a few guns and a few crossword puzzle books with pencils. Andrew was happy. He'd finished all of the others at the Bunker.

Glenn leaned back against the gas containers. They hadn't really been serious about this trip as it was more to see if the Training Grounds received an invitation to the Castle, but Tony figured since they were out they would look around. Furniture. Him and Maggie would go shopping as soon as they could. He'd let Rick and the others know. He smirked. They really were going shopping. It would be the first run for things they didn't need to stay alive. He was getting excited.

* * *

"Hell, yeah," Jesus smiled. "Those cots suck. When do we leave?"

They were all in the living room and Glenn told them about the furniture run if they were interested in going.

Rick looked at Carl, who was not paying attention. "Carl?"

"Yeah, Dad?" he looked at him.

"You want to go get new furniture for our room?"

"Um, can I take the empty room if Tony and Ash say it's okay?"

Rick raised his eyebrows. He knew it was hard on Carl living with him. In the prison they'd stayed in the same cell, but he was younger then. In Alexandria he'd had his own room. He thought about it. Hannah seemed to think they wouldn't take in any more people. It was across the hall so it wasn't like he wasn't gonna be far away. "Yeah, we can ask."

"Cool," he grinned. "Yes, I'd like to do a run for furniture."

Rick smiled. "Let's go ask."

* * *

"We don't care, Carl," Tony huffed. "It's up to your dad."

Carl looked up at his dad. "Okay, Carl. You can have your own room," his dad said.

"Cool. We'd like to go on a run for furniture," Carl grinned at Tony.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Sure. Don't skip watch, make sure the furniture is bug free, as much as you can, fill up the truck. Like I told Glenn, we're not your jailers. I've seen some of the others leave and come back."

"So I can go?" he asked.

"It's your furniture, right? If your dad's okay with it, we don't care. You just can't shop for Crazy Ass."

Carl didn't understand why and said so.

Tony scoffed. "It's our place, Carl. Shopping for a bunch of grown ass adults? Not gonna happen. Personal shit? We don't have a say on what your dad does with you, unless he's beating you, then we'd have a problem."

"Okay." Carl thought. "It's still cool. I'm getting my own room." He paused. "Do the other kids have their own rooms?"

"Some of them do. We had a guy, Randy, he worked construction. Some of the people here had the walls torn down between rooms."

Carl didn't ask what happened to Randy. "You should ask to see some of the other rooms. Lisa and Andrew have a nice room. Jared and Beth moved in together. They combined their rooms. Good thing, too."

Carl knew Beth was pregnant. When he first heard her name he was expecting to _see_ Beth. This Beth was blonde, but she had brown eyes and was taller.

"We'll do that. Thank you, Tony," his dad responded.

He shrugged. "Sure. Next time, ask. We can't read your mind."

Carl whistled as he and his dad went to check out his new, by himself, room.

* * *

"Well? If you wanted to move out you can't now," Sasha greeted Abraham as he came inside their room.

"What in the shit?" he frowned.

"Carl's taking the last empty room. If you wanted it, you can't now."

"Huh. Why didn't you take it?"

She shrugged. "I'm fine where I am."

He sat down on his bed, against the wall. "Me, too, darling."

She knew why she was glad Abraham stayed with her and didn't move out. Now she had someone to put her down if she didn't make it.

"Furniture?" he asked after a period of silence.

"Fine like I am," she replied.

He turned his head. "I'm not."

She raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"You want to know why I stayed in this room with you? I like the way you call bullshit, Sasha. I believe I'd like to get to know you a whole lot better."

"What?" she choked out.

"I didn't stutter. This place? This is a good place. We can do something here. We aren't one gun fight away or one head up her ass politician away from dying. The table is set for the rest of our lives, and I hope those years to be long and fruitful. I see that time before me and I've been feeling the urge to make some plays before the great cosmic Pete comes to cut my throat unceremoniously and I gurgle my last breath. Well, things are gonna go on a while before that. I like the way you call bullshit. On Rick. On me. Even when you're crazy as fuck."

Sasha felt her mouth drop open. She thought Abraham was a goof. He was a good fighter. She'd liked being with him, even when she was crazy as fuck, aside from anyone else.

"You like me, too."

"I do?" she drawled.

He smirked at her. "I'm the only one you let call you 'Sash'. So," he paused. "Furniture?"

Sasha laughed until she started crying. Abraham looked uncomfortable. She heard him mumble 'fuck it' and moved to her bed. She moved into his arms before he could do or say anything else.

* * *

Abraham laid them on her bed after she fell asleep. He thought she cried so hard she must have broke something. He'd never seen or heard her cry and from that massive breakdown she must not have since this started. Damn long time not to cry. Hell, he even cried when he found Ellen and the kids outside that store so long ago. He didn't lie. He liked she called him on his bullshit. He liked spending time with her, even when she was crazy as fuck. Some of the shit they'd, she'd done, during their time in Alexandria. The smart ass remarks. She always had his back.

He wanted what Glenn and Maggie had and he wanted it with Sash. Abraham also wouldn't lie to himself. He liked Sasha more now that they'd been here eight months and six days. He liked himself more. He didn't know how much longer he would have lasted, if not for her. He didn't think he could love anyone again, after Ellen, but with Sash, he came close. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

Aaron took one of the home magazines down to their room and flipped through it. He didn't know why he didn't think to ask if they could do a run for furniture, except the only runs they'd done were for things to stay alive, in Alexandria, and things they needed for the future at the Bunker (Crazy Ass).

"Find something you like?" Jesus asked as he stepped inside and headed for his bed.

"Yes, I have. A divider between the beds?"

"Sounds fine. I'd like a nice shower curtain."

He laughed. "A nice shower curtain?"

"Yeah. Something with fish or light blue. Stars?"

"I could do light blue," he agreed.

"Light blue."

"Paint?" Aaron asked as he looked at the stark white walls.

"Light blue."

"Off white?"

"Off white works. Would the paint even be any good after all this time?" Jesus wondered out loud.

He shrugged. "I don't know. We'll find out."

"Bean bag chairs?"

Aaron laughed. "Bean bag chairs?"

"I had one when I was in college. They're comfortable."

"Papa san chair," he countered.

"I like those, too. We have enough room for a few chairs. If we move the beds around," Jesus trailed off. "No bunk beds."

"I can get behind that." He paused. "It's."

"Weird," Jesus continued after a few minutes. "Doing a run for something."

"Frivolous," he muttered after Jesus fell silent.

"Frivolous," he repeated.

"It's nice," Aaron sighed as he laid on his shitty cot. "In Alexandria we were already set up."

"I saw the houses. Nice. It beat the trailers we lived in."

"Do you miss it?" he questioned. They stopped talking about Hilltop and Alexandria after spilling everything to Tony and Ash. They never talked about the Kingdom.

"Yes and no. Like you and Alexandria, I guess. I miss some of the people and they didn't deserve what happened. I hope some of them made it out and away from the Saviors."

"I don't think anyone made it out of Alexandria. If they did? They didn't really go anywhere, especially after the Saviors. A few. Besides Rick, Carl, Abraham, Tara and Sasha. You know, I hated Rick sometimes."

"Why?" Jesus sounded shocked. Aaron turned his head and saw Jesus was looking at him.

"The bad outside followed him inside."

The man rolled his eyes. "He would have found you eventually."

"I know. We were lucky we lasted as long as we did. Deanna," he huffed. "If he'd found us before we recruited Rick? She wouldn't have made it. He would have killed her sons to make a point."

"Yeah, he would have. At least one of them. Or maybe her husband. Or maybe someone else. It doesn't matter now, Aaron. Those places are gone. Those people are gone. Maybe it's better they burned to death than turn into a walker or be found by the Saviors." It was his turn to pause. "I would have left if Maggie and Glenn hadn't taken over."

Aaron let out a short laugh. "I thought Eric and I should have left. We didn't have anywhere else, comfortable, to go. When we were recruiting we had an RV. It was like camping. We could have. We'd killed walkers before. On the way to Alexandria."

"Hm," Jesus murmured. "Evan and I were in our apartment when we saw the news and were told to evacuate. I was never comfortable after that. We couldn't get to the camp there were so many cars." He paused. "We just kept moving. Then I just kept moving. Hilltop is where I stopped." He barked a laugh. "It was comfortable, but not like Alexandria." Jesus paused again. "I'm more comfortable here, with people that know, in a damn bunker, than I've been since this started."

Aaron would agree with that statement. Comfort came in all shapes and sizes.

"I killed my first walker leaving our apartment," Jesus announced out of nowhere. "I almost died, too. I shot it in the chest. Slowed it down. Evan hit it in the head. After that? In the head. You?"

"An army guy stopped us to direct us to Alexandria. He told us. He'd heard it from his buddy. I couldn't do it at first. Until I could."

"Until you could." Jesus hummed. "I'm glad you could."

"Me, too."

* * *

Rick helped Carl carry his clothes to the room across the hall. His son was so excited. He felt like Carl was getting his own apartment, not his own room. If Carl and Taylor got together? Shit. He stopped thinking of that. He wanted Carl to stay a little boy forever. He never wanted this to have happened. He'd wanted Carl to grow up, go to college, get married and give him and Lori grandkids.

Carl would grow up. He had and it made Rick depressed how he grew and was growing up. Later that night he had a hard time sleeping, he was so used to listening to Carl breathe. It left him with too much time to think. Would him and Lori still be together if this hadn't happened? Looking back he knew they were havin' problems long before he got shot. Would he have woken up from his coma to find her and Shane in a relationship? He didn't know if Judith had been his or Shane's. He had raised her as if she was his and maybe she was. She had been his daughter, blood or not.

Thangs happened. Thangs he couldn't change. Wishing he'd done thangs differently didn't change the fact he didn't. He'd acted like an ass sometimes, but always with good intentions. Rolling onto his back, he wondered if Carl was doin' alright by himself in his own room.

* * *

Carl liked his room. His new room. After putting everything away, as his dad watched, he knew his dad was sad. He loved his dad, but he was thirteen or fourteen. He needed his own space. Not that he had any friends his own age to come over, but he wasn't a kid. He didn't need to stay with his dad.

He laid down and thought of what kind of furniture he wanted to get. A better bed, for one. These cots sucked. He didn't have a lot of clothes so he didn't need a dresser. He'd just use the footlocker in the room, like when he lived with his dad. His own bookcase. That would be nice. He could ask Tony about moving the other cot out of this room and getting a bigger bed.

He'd like to go back to the prison and see if that picture him and Michonne took from the diner was still there. One day he would.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Thank you to those of you still reading

* * *

It felt a little weird to Jesus to be in a store looking at furniture. He and Aaron had decided on a divider and two sturdy looking twin beds. He was going to continue to use the footlocker, but Aaron decided on a two drawer night table. He barely listened to Glenn and Maggie debating this or that. Carl and Rick were looking at double beds. Sasha and Abraham were wondering around. He wondered if they'd start sleeping together. To Jesus, Abraham and Sasha had seemed close. He knew, Rosita made it clear, she and Abraham were together. It wasn't his business. If they did? They did. This world was fucked up. They should grab happiness where they could.

Which brought him back to Aaron. He liked Aaron. As a friend. He and Aaron had both lost lovers during this. Evan. He hadn't thought about his lover in…years, until the other night. He'd had to move. He found Hilltop and then the Saviors found them. Jesus still missed him, but it had lessened. He was glad Evan wasn't here for this. "What?" he paid attention to Aaron.

"I asked if you wanted this chair?" he pointed to a large light brown chair that had a round seat and a back that spanned half of it.

Jesus stared at it a few minutes. "I like this. We could push it up near the closet on your side of the room."

"What I was thinking." They looked around at the others. "Let's go check out the dollar store. They have to have shower curtains."

He told Rick as they were leaving and he acknowledged them with a wave.

The dollar store was empty, as it should be. Tony and Ash had basically shopped this city out in the beginning. They found shower curtains, clear with splashes of color on it ended up being the choice. Aaron took some shower hooks while he wondered around. No batteries. He knew the cars had been emptied. In the back the stock looked mostly intact. Did they need five hundred keychains?

"…for paint," he heard Aaron as he came from the back.

"Paint? Would it still be good?" he saw Maggie wrinkle her nose as Glenn killed the two barely moving walkers.

"We don't know. We'll check it out."

"Wouldn't it stink up the floor?" Glenn raised his eyebrows.

"We didn't think of that," Jesus admitted.

"Wallpaper would work just as well," Maggie pointed out.

He and Aaron shared a look. "We'll stick with the white."

She laughed. "If you change your mind I'll help you put it up."

"White it is," Aaron decided.

"Sounds good to me," he agreed.

* * *

Maggie felt like a kid in a candy store. When they pulled up to the furniture store she was out of the truck and inside before anyone else. It felt weird to be shopping for something they really didn't need but wanted. Furniture. Her and Glenn walked around the entire store ignorin' everyone else while she chattered away. Glenn, she loved him, he smiled and offered his opinions on what he wanted their room to have. She wanted a queen bed but it would take up too much room, so they settled for a nice double bed with a headboard. They picked a tall dresser and a small one for the closet, for towels and sheets.

She settled for two chairs and a small table to make a sittin' area. The rooms weren't that big, but she'd find a way to make it work. If it didn't? They'd bring the stuff back. At the dollar store she picked out a nice yellow shower curtain and some hooks. When Aaron started talking about paint her mind raced. Until Glenn pointed out it would stink up the floor. Wallpaper? They could do wallpaper. Hannah had done wallpaper.

After Glenn told them about furniture shopping and the other rooms she headed straight for Hannah. Hannah kind of reminded her of Lori, thin with long brown hair, except she could kill walkers. She tried to recall if Lori had ever killed a walker but all she could remember was what she was like when Carl'd been shot and storming off to find Rick. She spent a lot of time refusin' to accept what they had to do, kind of like Jessie Anderson.

Hannah's room had what she called wallpaper border in a pretty green color that she and Taylor had put up near the ceiling. They had two twin beds cattycorner to each other, two night tables and a few rugs. They had stacked the footlockers and her and Taylor had a table with a few chairs. She'd also given Maggie the idea of storage for sheets and towels, except they had some kind of shelving over the toilet. They didn't have a lot, no one did, except the Alexandrians her mind hissed, but what they did have looked good. And more like a little apartment. Her and Glenn may not get another house to themselves, but she could make what they did have more comfortable.

The Bunker (Crazy Ass) was a good place and she liked it.

* * *

Rick smiled as Carl walked around and tested out the beds. It was nice to see him smiling. There wasn't much to smile about out here, but the Bunker (Crazy Ass) was a good place he could raise his son. After Carl made his choice Rick looked around the rest of the bed selection. He hadn't slept in a nice bed since Alexandria and decided to treat himself. He'd never cared when they were in King County, just tellin' Lori he'd liked what she'd done. At the farm he'd been more worried about Carl, then disappointed in Lori and pissed at Shane. At the prison, it had beenl about staying alive. Alexandria already had this stuff so it was different, but not. He heard Abraham tell Sasha the sky was the limit and it was. He found a nice, comfortable mattress with a plain brown headboard, almost like Carl's, with a small night table next to it. Carl picked out his book case and they followed Aaron and Jesus to the dollar store.

The sheet selection was small but he picked out a set in white and Carl a set in light blue. Rick noticed Aaron and Jesus by the shower curtains and decided to follow their example. The shower in Alexandria had a door, but a shower curtain in any other color but camouflage green would be welcome. He and Carl both chose a clear liner, grabbed some shower curtain hooks, the ones with the little steel balls, and made their way back to the truck where Aaron, Jesus, Glenn and Maggie were waiting.

"Sasha and Abraham," Glenn pointed to the store.

"We'll take the little things and come back tomorrow for the beds," Rick decided when Sasha and Abraham drew near.

* * *

Abraham watched Sash as she walked around the furniture store. It kind of reminded him when he and Ellen had first gotten married. He hadn't given a rat's ass what their bedroom had looked like as long as the bed was comfortable. He wiggled his eyebrows up and down while saying it. Ellen laughed, shook her head and pulled him further into the store. They'd ended up with a queen bed that had been very comfortable. He still didn't give a rat's ass what it looked like, but this was important to him. Hopefully to her.

They didn't say anything about what he'd said and what she'd done. It wasn't the first time he'd gotten blown off by a woman. Sasha kept glancing back at him so he didn't think she was blowing him off. He knew she preferred to stay with him when they left Alexandria to the (Crazy Ass) Bunker. She could have moved out at any time after they were accepted. Him, too. It wasn't bad he started noticing her and he was with Rosita. It was life. He could have one now. He wanted it to be with Sasha.

* * *

Sasha wandered around the furniture showroom and almost rolled her eyes. She didn't need to be here, a part of her sneered. She didn't need furniture. It was…nice they could do this. The prison had been depressing and they'd been more concerned with runs and food. The Governor. Alexandria had been ready made, a planned community complete with all the trimmings.

After she woke up, in Abraham's arms, she'd snuck into the bathroom, did her business then left. He never said anything about her breakdown when she did see him again. She hadn't cried hard like that in… She couldn't remember. She'd cried a little when she found out Ty died. No one had seen, Sasha had made sure of it. A couple of times she'd been so angry at Carol for finding them in Terminus. If she hadn't wanted to play Rambo her, Ty and Judith could have been alive. Sasha had learned to accept her conflicting feelings. On one hand, being happy she wasn't some asshole's steak and on the other, losing her brother. Like Maggie was always saying, she couldn't change it.

She didn't know how to take what Abraham said. She liked him. More than Bob. Probably because they'd been together longer. He was just as crazy as her. He'd settled down, like her, too. She smiled as she recalled the 'testimonial' he'd given at Rick's 'trial'. 'Rick knows every fine grain of said shit and then some'. Dumb. Funny now.

"See something you like? The sky's the limit," he said from behind her.

She turned and rolled her eyes this time. "Two twin beds."

He nodded. "Done."

She smiled a little. He smirked. "Asshole."

"I know you mean it in a good way, Sash."

After she picked out what she wanted they headed to the dollar store behind Rick and Carl. They saw Maggie, Glenn, Aaron and Jesus by the truck. "Waiting on you," Glenn snorted. The two of them ducked inside and she headed for the shower curtains. Picking a few up she fanned them out for Abraham to make a choice. He picked the clear one. After taking the shower curtain rings they headed outside to see some of the little things being loaded.

"We'll take the little things and come back tomorrow for the beds," Rick decided.

"Keaton and Andrew said they'd help," Aaron reminded them as they finished, got in and drove…home.

* * *

Carl and his dad were putting his bookcase together. It was nice. His dad let him read the directions and do most of the work. His dad just watched and offered advice. After he put it against one of the walls he admired his handy work.

"Good job, Carl," his dad complimented him.

"Thanks, Dad," Carl smiled up at him.

His dad pulled him into a hug. "I love you, son."

"I love you, too, Dad," he whispered back. He did. He loved his dad. He was glad they weren't in Alexandria, as much as he missed some of the things there. He liked having this dad better. "I'm glad we found this place."

"Me, too, Carl. Me, too."

"I need some books," he blurted as he moved away a few steps.

"We got plenty upstairs."

"I want comics."

"All right. I'll put it on the run list."

"Cool."

* * *

Rick found himself smiling as he put together his double bed. Carl was handing him tools and offering advice. The run to get the beds had been long and he'd been glad Andrew and Keaton had been there to help. Maggie and Sasha killed any walkers that were interested while him, Aaron, Jesus, Glenn and Abraham took the bed frames apart. Andrew and Keaton had loaded the mattresses before helping Maggie and Sasha. Rick was glad the mattresses were showroom perfect and there was no need look for bugs. After everythang had been put on the truck they drove back to the Bunker. Carl had helped them take the frames downstairs, his first, of course. The rest of the group had gone to their own rooms while he'd helped Carl with his bed and now Carl was helping him.

"Sheets," Rick muttered.

"They're in my room," Carl told him before he left.

He stood up and groaned. He was getting to old for this shit. Carl came running back in with a packet of white sheets. After him and Carl made his bed he sighed. His night table was better looking than the footlocker. Carl took off to his own room and Rick laid down on his new bed. Hell, it felt good. His back, those cots sucked for his back and fell asleep.

The next morning he felt…refreshed. Like at the hotel they'd stayed in after Alexandria. They should have done this at the prison. It wouldn't have stopped the Governor, but he could have been sleeping in a nice bed, even if it was in a cell. Thoughts of the prison reminded him of his daughter and he sighed. He couldn't change what had happened as much as he wished he could.

There wasn't much to do today and he was off watch this week, so he decided to go hunting with Carl. He wasn't much of a hunter but he and Carl had been working on some snares and decided to try their luck close to the Bunker. Rick wasn't foolish enough to take Carl far away, even though walkers weren't bad up here and they hadn't seen anyone but the patrol. It was spring, April, he couldn't believe it was April, and they'd been here eight months.

Later that night he sat outside with a glass of whiskey on the front porch. Glenn came outside and sat beside him with a glass of wine.

"Hard to believe," Glenn murmured.

"Yeah. Hard to believe," he agreed. "It was good; going and getting the furniture."

"Thank you."

Rick huffed a laugh and looked at Glenn. "Why are you thanking me?"

"This was a good decision."

"Thank you for being my friend. Stickin' with me even though I was an asshole," he uttered.

"You weren't always an asshole, Rick," Glenn countered.

"No, not always. Sometimes," he snorted.

"I'll go with sometimes," he agreed after moments of silence. "I…don't think I ever told you I was sorry about Judith."

"I wouldn't have been in the mood to hear it, Glenn, but thank you. Thank you for everythang you've done for me and Carl."

Glenn patted his shoulder as he stood. "You don't have to thank me, but you're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow, Rick."

"Night, Glenn."


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Thanks to those who are still reading. This chapter is leading up to the reunion.

* * *

Michonne laid on the floor, a glass of water near, and glanced over to the playpen. Seeing two children sleeping, she smiled and looked at Rand, also on the floor.

"I think I hate Megan," the woman groaned.

"You know this was a good idea, Rand." Michonne rolled her eyes.

"I do. It's a spectacular idea, but I never realized yoga was _hard._ "

"Me, either," she agreed.

Yoga, Megan recommended, was a good way to build stamina and regain flexibility after having a baby. She swore by it. She had been a yoga instructor before so she would know what she was talking about. She and her son, Paul, did it regularly after they came to live at the castle. Megan swore it was why they had lasted as long as they did when Michonne and Daryl had found them near Charlottesville.

After Jasper's birth she needed to get back in shape. Not for before reasons, for practical reasons. She needed to be ready if something ever happened and they had to leave. At first, Daryl had been hurt. He thought she didn't think he could protect them. He thought it was a good idea after she explained she trusted him, loved him, but Jasper needed both parents and yoga would help her get back into fighting shape. Plus, it was her and Rand.

Between her, Daryl, Waya, Adrian and Seth they had put the woman on lockdown after they came back from Blue Mountain, empty handed, with the news she was pregnant. The man in question had lied. He thought he, his wife and daughter would be more protected if they thought he was a doctor. Asshole. Juan, she guessed from what Rand had told her, had been pissed.

Daryl had laughed his ass off when he found out while Michonne had smiled evilly at her friend. Turnabout was fair play. She'd been banned from night watch, heavy lifting and no coffee. It made for a very _interesting_ time with both of them pregnant. It was worth it, she thought, as she looked over at the playpen again. Jasper and Andy were sleeping curled up against each other. She wanted to take a picture.

"I hope she takes after Waya," Rand said as she stared at the playpen.

Andromeda Benetton looked almost like Waya, but with Rand's eyes. All three of them doted on her as if she were their own. Maybe she was. There were several residents that were taking care of children that weren't born to them. It really did take a village to raise a child now. Seth, Adrian and Waya doted on Jasper like they were the father and Daryl returned the favor. Tsula and Jenny had adopted them as younger siblings while Mark was the older cousin.

Michonne hoped that Jasper Dixon took after both her and Daryl. He did physically. He had lighter shade of brown then she was, a mop of black hair and light brown eyes. Daryl was loyal, kind, smart and good. She was practical and loyal, when it was deserved. She might be biased but her and Daryl's son was perfect.

"You think anyone else will send people?" Michonne asked the question that had been nagging everyone. After Robert said he wanted to send someone on patrol with them Rand had discussed it with her and Daryl. She thought it was a good idea. Daryl did, too, but was skittish about who they would send. They hadn't met anyone from the Fort. She and Daryl had been the main contact with the Training Grounds before the patrols started. The patrol found Blue Mountain and that place up by Willow Grove. The Four handled Lenny personally. It made her breathe easier they hadn't found any other communities like Alexandria.

"Robert, obviously. I won't know until the meeting next month," she replied. "They're benefitting from this as much as we are. Lenny. He could be a problem."

"He sounds weird, Rand," she commented as she sat up and drank water.

Rand did the same. "He is weird, Michonne. Who isn't?" She shrugged before standing and wiping away the last of the sweat. They both stood over the playpen, watching. "Can I tell you something?" she asked.

"You can tell me anything, Rand."

"I hope our kids are friends."

Michonne looked at the woman in shock. "Why wouldn't they be?"

She shrugged again. "Because I can be an ass?"

"You can. But it's alright. We compensate," she teased.

"You're an asshole." Rand rolled her eyes this time.

"So you've said," Michonne laughed before picking up Jasper and putting him up to her shoulder. It was nice to see Rand do the same to Andy. The woman had been a wreck during her pregnancy. It had unnerved Michonne to see Rand so rattled and it was good her friends had metaphorically kicked her ass. Rand had mostly looked to her for advice and she broke down and told her more about Andre. Those conversations, in her mind, cemented their friendship more. They, Michonne liked to believe, were more like sisters. Not that Rand ever said anything like that, but Rand didn't like talking about feelings. It wasn't Michonne's favorite subject either and maybe they didn't need to acknowledge it out loud. It just was.

* * *

Jesus was in the backseat of the minivan with Brock and Cindy from the Training Grounds. Tony, and Linda were in the front, Jess and Ash in the middle seat. He looked out the window as they drove down route 81. He saw a lot of nothing. He could hear Linda, Tony and Ash talking, but Brock and Cindy weren't saying much of anything. The trip was supposed to take a little over an hour according to Brick. Cindy pulled out some headphones and laid her head against the window.

* * *

"Tom? How's it looking?" Rand asked him when he walked inside.

"Fine. The tent is up, the tables are out. Helen and Michonne are finishing up the food."

"Hard to say that with a straight face, isn't it?" she murmured.

"Yes it is," he agreed.

"I'm going to feed Andy. Let me know when someone arrives."

"You think they'll come early?"

"I would."

"Not everyone is like you, Rand," he coughed.

"Damn good thing. Like us, they don't have much to do. Probably less than us. They'll be early." She paused. "Robert will definitely be early."

"Right. I'll have coffee on."

She frowned. "Not too much. We'll have to do another run soon."

* * *

Robert and Pauline pulled up to the spiked fence and he whistled. "Nice place." Beyond the fence he could see a stone walkway spanning a makeshift road with people and guns, more stone walls and stone towers.

Pauline frowned. "Yeah. It's real castle, isn't it?"

"It's what the papers said."

A young Hispanic man in jeans, a t-shirt and a gun opened the gate and approached their car. Robert rolled down the window.

"You can park over there," the man pointed to an empty area near the fence. "Make sure your armbands are on."

He rolled the window back up and parked the car. They got out and went through the open gate. "The tent has chairs. I'll let Rand know you're here," the man said as he closed it.

"Thanks," Robert adjusted his red armband.

"You think they'll all show?" Pauline questioned as they headed for the tent. Robert grinned. It looked like something set up for a tournament, minus the flags. He counted five small round tables in a semicircle with three chairs at each table. He and Pauline took seats at the one farthest on the left before noting a long table with plates on it.

"Yes. Food." He pointed.

"Good. I'm hungry." She paused as an older white man with a coffee carafe entered the tent and put it down. He smiled a little before leaving. "You know," she continued as she eyed the carafe, "we didn't need to leave so early."

Robert laughed. "I know."

They sat and watched as two young girls and a young boy brought food and silverware and placed it next to plates. Robert looked around as they waited. He couldn't see much because of the trees, but what he did see was the fence disappearing into the woods on both sides of the stone walkway. He wouldn't have been surprised to find out the fence circled the entire castle. Movement caught his eye and he watched as Rand and her bodyguards showed up with their swords and blue armbands. He and Pauline traded looks. They looked kind of scary when they were grouped like they were. Rand headed straight for their table.

"Robert." She nodded.

"Rand," he greeted. "You remember Pauline."

"Yes."

"Rand," she acknowledged. "It's a real castle."

"It's a real place," Rand shot back with a smirk.

Pauline snorted.

* * *

Tony pulled up beside the other two cars that were parked outside the heavily spiked fence. "Nice place," he commented. Inside the fence he saw a stone bridge over a gravel road and stone walls in the distance. The bridge had a few people walking on it carrying rifles. The fencing went into the woods on both sides of the bridge. Looking through the windshield, he saw a squat stone tower.

"Holy shit. It is a real castle!" Ash exclaimed.

Linda turned with raised eyebrows. "It is. It was in all the papers. It was supposed to be some kind of theme park," she pronounced before she got out of the car. She, Brock and Cindy headed to the open gate.

"Hell. Do you think we could get a tour?" Jess asked.

"We can ask," Tony replied as they all got out of the car. He slowed a little when he got a look at the four people dressed in jeans, t-shirts, blue armbands and tennis shoes with swords on their backs, waiting. He recognized Seth and nodded once.

"They look like they mean business," Ash muttered quietly.

Tony couldn't disagree.

* * *

Jesus raised his eyebrows. Shit. A real castle. The woman, surrounded by the men, swords on their backs, did look like they meant business. He followed Jess to the last table in the semicircle.

"Feel free. We have some coffee." The woman pointed to the table off to her right. He looked around and saw the other groups with plates, eating and talking amongst their own tables. He went to the first group, a black man and Hispanic woman, for their extra chair. Linda and her group, seated at the table next to them, headed right for the coffee.

* * *

Rand waited until everyone had filled their plates and cups. When she saw some empties she cleared her throat. She hated this shit.

"I thought of putting out those name tag things," she tried to joke.

One of the purple armband people smiled. "Yeah."

She took a deep breath and let it out. "Instead, we'll pretend like it's the first day of English Lit class. I'm Rand. I run the Castle."

"Seth, one of the knights," he bowed.

"Waya, a knight," he nodded from behind her.

"Adrian, a knight," he bowed.

She closed her eyes and sighed.

Robert laughed before he stood up. "I'm Robert. I run the Fort. My right hand, Pauline," he introduced. She nodded.

Juan, green armband, stood next. "I'm Juan and I run Blue Mountain. My lieutenant, Miguel." He pointed to the stocky Hispanic man sitting down.

"Linda. I run the Training Grounds. Two of my people, Cindy." She pointed a white woman with long dark hair. "Brock." She pointed to the white man with short dark hair. All of them were wearing their yellow armbands.

"Tony. My sister, Ash. We run Crazy Ass," he said as his sister called it the Bunker. Rand almost laughed at the looks they shot each other. "Two of my people. Paul." He pointed to a white guy with longish brown hair, purple armband. "Jess." He pointed to a white woman with short blonde hair, purple armband.

"Thank you for coming. It's nice to put faces with the names," she stated. "I'm not going to keep you long. I'm sure you have other things to do than to listen to me babble. A few reasons I asked for this meeting. One was to put faces to the names. I'm not sure if you were interested in who the other leaders of the communities are, but I'm nosy."

"No. I like it," Robert agreed.

Head nods all around.

"Good. The second was about the patrol. Robert approached one a few months ago and asked if his people could participate. We don't run the Trail. We're doing this because we have a vested interested in staying alive and so do you. We don't care. If any of your people." Rand pointed to the other groups, "want to join, I say the more the merrier. If it's something your groups would be interested in, we'll gladly take the help."

"How would it work?" Linda raised her hand.

"The patrol starts here. We can pick up members at your respective places, take them with us and once my people reach the Castle, your people would go home. The only issue I can see is that place up by Willow Grove."

"The Bunker," Ash exclaimed.

"Crazy Ass," Tony interjected.

"The Bunker slash Crazy Ass. This isn't easy. My people are gone anywhere from two to three weeks. It's a big area we cover. Not only do we check in with all of you, we check out anything…unusual."

"Like what?" Juan questioned.

"The leader of one patrol went further than Mount Jackson. Just to see what was up there. We found a few of the towns cleared out of things a group would need like food, gas, batteries, matches, etc." She got nods. "So, we sent more people to look around and found Crazy Ass."

"That's how you found us?" Ash frowned.

"It's how we found Robert. It's how we found Juan. The other option is you come here, we'll watch your cars or horses or whatever form of transportation you're using, until you get back. We've lost one person to walkers in the entire year we've been doing this. No losses from live people. We've set up places for the patrol to stay at night. If you want to do this, we do ask you contribute to the supplies we've left in each place, mainly food."

"Six people, right?" Pauline verified.

"Yes, we send six people. If you want to do this you need to be sure you can lose however many would like to do this for at least two weeks."

"We'll come here. One person, right now," Robert volunteered.

"Great." Rand addressed the others. "You don't have do this. Almost everyone has done, aside from the kids, at least one patrol."

"I'd like to talk it over with my people," Linda responded.

"Us, too," Tony said.

"Just let the next patrol know. They'll leave in two weeks. I hate to sound like an arrogant ass, but how many know what month this is?"

"It's April," Jess answered.

"Close. It's June."

"How do you know?" Miguel spoke in heavily accented English.

"We have some electricity. We have a laptop. Internal clock. The third reason is trading. We've cleaned out a building in Bridgewater and put in a septic system. We'd like to have a quarterly market day or two. Not to say other trading couldn't occur, but I thought it might be a little easier to see all the goods available. There are rooms close if you think the market should last two days or if you just want to rest. Thoughts? Ideas?"

Robert chuckled. "You are ambitious, aren't you, Rand?"

"No rest for the wicked, Robert." Rand looked at the other community leaders. "I've given you a lot to think about. No decisions have to be made right now, just when the patrol is in your area a yea or nay is sufficient. If you don't think the market thing is for you, we'll still trade. If you do, I'd like the first one to be in September."

"What building in Bridgewater?" Juan inquired.

"It's a hotel, actually. We'll clean the rooms or you can send people to clean the rooms, it doesn't matter to us. Like I said, just let us know so we can make plans. Any other questions?"

"Can we get a tour?" Jess held up her hand.

"Why don't we table that for right now," Rand replied blandly. "Let's work on these other things first."

* * *

"My sister and I would like to talk to our people about this market thing, too. Right now, we don't have that much surplus to trade." Tony admitted to Waya. Ash was kind of surprised he was Native American. The other knights and the queen had settled in at different tables to answer questions. Rand, nice looking woman, was sitting at Robert and Pauline's table. Adrian, also a shocker he was English, was with Linda. Seth was sitting with Juan. She wasn't trying to listen but she was sure they were all speaking Spanish.

"Fine. Just jump in when you feel you can or want," Waya responded. "As Rand said, you don't have to do this if you don't want and we'll still trade with you, if needed."

"But you already fixed up a hotel with a septic system," Ash commented.

"We have. From what we've seen, people aren't moving around unless something happens, like the group you got eight plus months ago. If a group were to find us we don't have enough room for them. Rand decided we should make another place for a group like that. It's close and we could help them get settled."

"Hm," she murmured. It was a good idea. If another group liked Grimes' showed up what would they do? Make them go away? If they were assholes they'd just kill them. She watched Tony nod. It seemed he agreed it was a good idea as well.

Jesus thought this Rand woman was pretty smart. If the Bunker (Crazy Ass) hadn't taken them, yeah, they would have gone somewhere else. It would have been a bitch to start over, but they could have done it. If a place was semi setup? Better.

"Does it have walls?" he questioned.

"Not now, no. We recently put the septic system in place. It was time consuming. It's our next project. Walls or fences."

"Would we have to help with doing it?" Jess leaned forward, coffee cup in hand.

"If you would like. We're not making anyone do anything they don't want to do. This is for us as much as you."

"Quarterly?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Quarterly. If we find more communities the interval may change. We can have the patrol drop off a reminder a month before the market."

"I like the idea. It's good," Tony hummed. "When will you start on the walls?"

"Soon. We don't have a set schedule. We'll have to go find the fencing first. We're inclined to do fencing, heavily fortified with spikes. The fences will allow everyone to see out and your people may not feel as comfortable trusting the Castle to do watch."

Jesus had to concede the man had a point. For the most part, people trusted their group. The Castle had done some good things, wanted to do more good things, but you trusted your group first. There were more questions about the hotel Waya answered, except for the location. "We prefer to get all the questions out of the way and confirmations first."

Jesus could understand that, too.

"Alright. Can we let you know ahead of the patrol? If we do this we'd like to get a head start," Tony relayed.

Waya nodded. "Understandable. You can. You know where we are. We'd like you to wait at least a week. To give everyone time to discuss it with their residents. The other groups may want to get a head start, too. There's one more thing. We'd prefer no guns in the market. It's a preference."

Jesus saw Tony nod again. "Good policy."

"We don't allow guns inside our walls," Waya conveyed. "We'll have lockers available for everyone or bring your own."

"Can see why you don't," Ash snorted. "Damn stone walls. Probably don't need them. Assholes would have to do a lot to get inside."

"Hm. Yes they would," he agreed dryly.

Jesus found himself liking this Waya guy. After more conversation with him Ash headed over to Robert and Pauline's table. He watched as the three shook hands and started talking. He and Jess stayed where they were while Tony moved to Juan's table and Linda was speaking with Rand and Miguel. Cindy and Brock headed to their table and sat down. "Interesting," Jess muttered.

"Sounds good to me," Brock responded. "We're the first group the Castle contacted and they've done alright by us."

"I like it. A chance to meet new faces at any rate," Cindy smiled a little.

"True," Jess agreed. "A chance to meet new faces."

"Knights," Brock snorted.

"I thought it was funny," Jesus said.


	11. Chapter 11

Rick watched as Tony, Ash, Jesus and Jess left in the blue minivan. Turning around he saw some of the others working or sitting outside, now it was nice out. He knew he didn't have anything to do. The watch room was scheduled, Carl was with Hannah, Glenn and Maggie were doing something with their room. He headed for the barn as it was his turn to clean the stalls. It was easier with pigs. He was takin' the last of the horseshit to the new compost pile when heard the car dive up. Everyone huddled around the gate waiting for Tony and Ash to get inside.

"It's a real castle," Ash laughed. "A real fucking castle."

"Anything?" Tony looked in his direction.

"Quiet," he replied.

"Good. I'm sure everyone wants to know so we'll tell them at dinner. Whoever's on watch can have an hour off."

With that, everyone slowly walked to the house behind them, like little ducklings. He pulled Jesus aside.

"Well?"

"Tony'll tell everyone at dinner, Rick, but we didn't have any problems on the way there or back."

He nodded once and went to put everythang up so he could get a shower. He smelled like horseshit. After he went back upstairs he saw everyone just sitting around in the living room. It was kind of crowded. Jess, he could tell, wanted to tell everyone right away. Tony was smart havin' everyone listen at the same time. Hell, he was getting anxious. It must have gone well, though. Jesus would have said somethang right away. They'd all agreed before they came here if there was a problem like the Saviors they'd leave. He wasn't havin' his people be sitting ducks for another group of psychos. He knew Aaron had saved more of the brochures from the hotel. If they had to leave they had a plan that worked now.

Rick wasn't surprised to see everyone crowded into the dining room when Maria brought out salad bowls and Esteban, big bowls of soup. Those standing against the wall served themselves first then the older residents, Tony, Ash and the kids where last. Ash seemed to like keeping them in suspense. Everyone ate fast. Usually everyone took their time eating and talking. Tony shook his head as he sat at the head of the table. He pushed his dinner dishes away after he was finished.

"A couple of things. The Castle will take volunteers for patrol."

He waited until the talking died down. "The Castle would also like to do a quarterly market."

Ash slammed her hand on the table when it looked like no one would stop shouting questions. "Hey. We'll answer the questions. There's no need to talk over each other. Everyone has questions. Shut up."

"Thanks, Ash," Tony deadpanned. "Everyone gets a chance to talk. This isn't happening overnight. It's not mandatory. Rand won't make us do anything. We'll start with patrol first."

"How would it work? They come here and pick us up or we go there?" Jared asked as Jess pointed to him.

"It'll work whichever way we want. The Fort is having one person go to their place. I guess it's all they can spare right now. It'll be two to three weeks. They check in with everyone and check out anything unusual."

"Such as?" Hannah questioned after Jess pointed to her.

"You know they just strolled up to the gate to meet us, right? They found some of the towns we shopped empty of things a group would need. Gas, food, batteries, you get the idea," Ash responded. "They looked until they found us. It's how they found the Fort and Blue Mountain."

"Everyone was there?" Maria squawked.

"All of the leaders of the communities."

"They brought some of their people. Blue Mountain is run by a guy named Juan. He brought his lieutenant, Miguel. Robert and Pauline from the Fort. Linda, Brock and Cindy from the Training Grounds. Me, Ash, Jess and Jesus."

"Why don't you tell us everything? From the beginning," Lisa suggested.

Ash laughed again. "Sure."

* * *

The name 'Rand' had Glenn raising his eyebrows. He looked at Carl and saw him frown. He turned his attention back to the meeting.

"So, we get there and there are so many spikes on that fence. It looked like they sacrificed ten to fifteen families of porcupines," Jess grinned.

"They had a lot. More than us," Jesus confirmed.

"We parked next to Juan and Robert's cars. Some Hispanic guy let us in," Tony tried to continue.

"They had some sort of brick walkway over a road," Jess interjected.

"Everyone had a gun," Ash added.

"They had some sort of tent, you know, the ones with just the top?" Jess waved her hands around. "These Castle people looked scary."

"They looked like they meant business. The woman, Rand, was surrounded by her knights," Ash chuckled.

"Really?"

Glenn didn't know who said that, everyone was there.

"It's how they introduced themselves." Jesus smiled a little.

"I liked it," Ash stuck her tongue out at him.

"Anyway," Tony raised his voice. "We see these four people with swords and guns just waiting. There were five tables in a semicircle with a banquet table near them."

"You ate?" Maggie gaped.

"Yeah. Coffee with cream and sugar. Cheese and ham and some small homemade bread things," Ash sighed. "Good shit."

"They have a cow," Maria hissed. "Pigs."

"Electricity," Mike huffed. "Can't keep cheese without it."

"Flour," Beth muttered.

"Aside from the cow and pigs, they have what we have," Keaton countered.

"Linda said it was supposed to be some sort of theme park or something," Jesus recalled.

"Getting back on track," Tony sighed. "She introduced herself as Rand and she ran the Castle. The knights, their word, are Seth, Waya and Adrian."

"It was good staging," Jesus interjected. "She was in front. Adrian."

"Who's English," Ash grinned. "Accent and everything."

"Waya."

"Who's Native American," Jess said. "Very hot."

"Very hot," Jesus agreed. "And Seth. He's black and has blue eyes."

"What?" Sasha frowned.

"Seth is black and has blue eyes," Jesus said slowly.

"Huh. Never saw a black man with blue eyes," Keaton mused.

"Moving along," Tony snorted. "The rest introduced themselves."

"When did you eat?" Maria raised her hand.

"Before introductions. Rand said she wouldn't keep us long. She figured we had better things to do than listen to her. She called the meeting so all the leaders would know who everyone was."

"She said she was nosy," Jess interrupted.

"It was a good idea," Ash stated.

"It was. The second thing was patrol. Apparently, Robert from the Fort asked to be included," Tony said before pausing.

"Go on," Andrew waved his hand. "We want to hear the story then we'll ask questions."

"The patrol lasts from two to three weeks. They've only lost one person to biters for the year they've been doing this. We asked a few questions before she asked if we wanted to participate in a quarterly market. Oh," Tony pointed to Hannah. "Your calendar is off by two months. It's June twelfth."

"How does she know?" Hannah sputtered.

"They have some electricity and a laptop. Internal clock," Jess replied as she rolled her eyes.

"She said she didn't want to sound like an arrogant ass," Ash grinned again. "Rand is also good looking."

"After she explained about the market the queen and knights sat and answered questions," Tony finished. "She's very business."

"We're finished with the story," Ash ended.

* * *

Maggie didn't miss Glenn's reaction to the Castle lady's name.

"You know her?" she whispered.

Glenn shrugged. "Maybe," he whispered back. "I'll tell you later."

Maggie nodded and paid attention the others.

"Two or three weeks?" Abraham asked.

"It's what she said. Since they've been doing this a year I think they've got it down. If we do this we'll lose people. And it would be appreciated if we contributed to the food supplies in the places set up for sleeping."

"How much?"

"As much as we can spare," Jesus answered.

"So we go there," Mike suggested.

"They'll watch whatever form of transportation we leave. We do the patrol and come home," Tony concluded.

"I'll do it." Abraham raised his hand. Maggie wasn't surprised he wanted to do it.

She saw Sasha glance at him with a thoughtful look on her face and she knew they'd both do the patrol. She wasn't sure how she felt about it. The patrol was a good idea. Hell, it was nice of the Castle to do it. Maggie didn't know if she wanted to do it or not.

"Before volunteering," Ash drawled, "let's get any other questions out of the way first, Ford."

"Rand said aside from the kids everyone has done one patrol," Tony informed the group. "If we do this we need to be prepared to lose a person or people for two weeks, minimum. Aside from watch, it's doable."

"Quarterly market. Where would it be? The Castle?" Hector questioned.

"You're never gonna believe this shit, pun intended," Ash took the question. "They put a septic system in at a hotel. We don't know where."

"No fences or walls," Jess reminded her.

"If we want to do this we can help put them up. Waya says fences, so we can see what's coming and won't have to depend on the Castle for watch," Tony nodded. "Good policy. It'll be quarterly. If we don't do it no harm, no foul. We can clean out rooms or they'll do it for us."

"They're preference is no guns in the market," Jesus pronounced.

"But," Tony raised his voice to be heard over the muttering. "They'll supply lockers or we can supply our own. We don't have to do this and they'll still trade with us, if needed, if we don't."

"We have a week to decide. We can change our minds," Ash said as she looked around the full dining room.

"We want everyone to think about this, especially the patrol," Tony advised. "You'll be gone, walking a pretty big area, with at least seven people you don't know."

"So far the Castle's been good to us. I don't think they'll try and screw us, they could have killed us when we drove up, but there's no guarantee something won't happen to you," Ash warned.

"Let's be smart about this. How many want to volunteer? If you get out there and don't like it you have to finish. No coming back. We don't want to look bad in front of the Castle or the Fort. If we get a lot of volunteers we'll need to make some decisions on how many can leave at a time. Personally, I'd like to do it. I'd like to start with one or two. We can afford to lose that many. Not a lot happens around here, but watch is pretty important. Things to think about," Tony recommended.

* * *

Sasha listened to the Tony and Ash as they brought up points they needed to consider. She knew Abraham would like to do it at least once. She wouldn't mind doing it. There wasn't a lot to do here. If the Castle has been doing it for a year, she could do a tour.

"…the market?" she turned her attention to Lisa.

"It'll be held once a quarter. Rand wants to start in September. If we find more communities we could have it more often. We don't have a lot to trade. We could ask the Castle to see who would bring what or just get some sort of list going," Ash furrowed her brows. "That's a good idea." She shook her head. "We'll get a notice the month before. Another thing we'd have to consider is how many would go. We could stay the night but do we want to have a lot of us gone for that long? We'd have to trade out. Anyone that didn't go before should get a chance to go."

"I like the list idea. We'll recommend it," Tony agreed.

"I don't want to put up fences," Andrew stated.

He got a lot of approving noises. Sasha didn't want to put up fences either. Cleaning the rooms? She could do it. It sounded kind of nice. A chance to see the other communities. She'd never been to the Kingdom but she had been to Hilltop. She was crazy back then so she didn't appreciate the change of scene. She didn't bother to remember anyone else's name because they'd been too busy trying to stay alive.

"If the others want to do the market and the Castle will put up the fences and we get a list of what people will bring maybe we should do it," Hannah suggested.

"I'll go clean some rooms," Lisa volunteered.

Which started another round of everyone talking over each other until Ash slammed her hand down on the table again. "I get this is exciting, but what the hell? We don't have to talk it all out tonight. We can wait for the patrol in two weeks or we can send someone to the Castle in a week."

"Ash is right. None of this has to be decided right now. If you have other questions, ones we didn't answer, find us later. If me, Ash, Jess or Jesus didn't ask we can send someone to the Castle for answers or wait for the patrol. If we don't do it this round we can do it next round."

* * *

Carl sat and listened as Dave and Tracy headed back to the watch room with them muttering at the look Tony gave them. Everyone else asked the same questions, it sounded like. They were talking over each other. Jesus and Jess were talking to a group of women, one of them Beth, about the men, while Ash was talking to some of the men about the women she'd seen, not many, including Jared. He was more interested in the kids. He should have known the other places had kids. Hilltop and the Kingdom did, according to his dad. His dad, Michonne and Daryl brought all those kids from Woodbury to the prison. Daryl had brought Patrick's family there, too. Lizzie and Mika.

He saw his dad and Tony were talking by themselves. Whatever it was it must be okay because his dad didn't look mad. He walked over and sat by them on one of the sofas. He didn't care what they looked like. He cared they wouldn't try and kill them.

"…alright. The woman, Rand, she was pretty much no bullshit."

His dad nodded. "I don't want to do a patrol."

"You don't have to, Rick. You can stay here. I'm not sure if we'll do the market thing. It would depend on what the Castle has to say. You can stay here for that, too."

"I'd like to go," Carl interrupted.

His dad turned with a frown on his face. "Carl, I'm not."

"Please, dad? Even if it's just one time? There might be other kids there," he whined.

"We'll see, Carl. We'll see." He turned back to Tony. "You trust this?"

"I do," Tony responded after a few minutes. "I do. Helping with the patrol? It's nice the Castle does it, but what happens if somehow they get attacked, not that it seems to happen a lot or we'd here more about it, and we don't really know where the other places are? We can't always count on them."

"Yeah. We can't always count on them," his dad repeated.

* * *

Glenn headed to Jesus and Jess as they talked about the 'knights' of the Castle. When they started talking about 'Rand' he listened. They didn't describe her much but it could be. He saw Carl sitting with Rick and Tony. He could barely remember her. Carl, aside from frowning, didn't seem to be interested. He'd ask him later. It couldn't be her. 'Rand' could have been her last name or her first name, Jesus and Jess didn't say. Hardly anyone used last names anymore. The people they'd met outside of Alexandria, anyway. Gregory. King Ezekiel. Negan. Simon. Arat. Hell, he'd only learned Jesus' last name after a few months of living at Hilltop and it had made him gape. When Jesus said 'Monroe' he thought he might be related to Deanna. It turned out he wasn't. Monroe wasn't that popular a last name. He'd never met anyone, outside of Deanna, Reg, Spencer and Aiden, with the last name of Monroe until he met Jesus. Rand could be one of those types of names. Something that he'd never heard of until now. He still didn't know Michonne's last name and she'd lived with them in the prison. Rand might not even be this woman's real name.

"You know her, Glenn?" Maggie asked him again when they were getting ready for bed. He loved their new mattress. Looking around the room he smiled. They'd done a good job. The bed was situated in the corner away from the door, near the bathroom, with the tall dresser on the left, his side of the bed. The small dresser sat in the closet, the door was off, and held the few towels and sheet sets they'd taken when they'd gone back to get the beds. The little table and two chairs was on the other side of the bathroom. Maggie had found a vase at the dollar store and some fake flowers. They'd eaten in their room once and it was nice. Almost like their own little apartment. Better than the prison tower. Better than the trailer.

"I'm not sure," he replied.

"Well," she was on her side staring at him before she poked him in his side.

He turned on his side with a glare as he put his arm underneath his pillow. "Stop. I don't know. I don't know if it's the same woman. Rand might not even be this woman's real name."

"So you do know her," Maggie huffed.

"Maybe."

"Where from?" Maggie pressed.

Glenn sighed and rolled onto his back. "If it's the same woman, from the quarry."

"What?"

"From the quarry camp, Maggie. She wasn't with us long. A few days. She, uh, left. Shane said she went back to Atlanta to look for her family or friends."

"You believed him?" she questioned skeptically.

He shrugged. "She didn't really talk to me. I know her and Shane got into it. She put him on his ass and left. She talked to Dale, Andrea and her sister, Amy. Dale told me he asked Shane later. Shane told Dale he tried to stop her, she wasn't listening and he couldn't stop her from committing suicide."

Maggi snorted. "I bet."

"Atlanta was bad, Maggie. Really, really bad. The last time I went; me, Rick, Daryl and T-Dog, we almost didn't make it. The time before. Well, it was bad. She might or might not have made it."

"Rick didn't seem to know her. Or Carl," she pointed out.

"She was with us early, Rick wasn't there yet. She didn't talk much to Lori or Carl. Or Carol. There weren't that many of us in the very beginning."

"Daryl didn't know her either?"

"No. Daryl and Merle weren't there. They showed up a few days after she left." He shrugged again. "The only ones left from the first week are me and Carl."

"Would you recognize her?"

"What the hell, Maggie? Does it matter?" he turned his head to look at her again.

"No, I guess it doesn't." She paused. "Maybe. Maybe you could go talk to her."

Glenn rolled to his side again. "Maybe."

"If it's a real castle, Glenn, maybe we could get a tour," Maggie grinned.

"Maybe."

He went to Carl's room the next morning and knocked on his door.

Carl opened it right away. "Hi, Glenn."

"Hi, Carl. Can I come in?" he gestured to the room.

Carl frowned and stepped back. "I, uh, only have the bed." Glenn saw it wasn't made and his hair was wet.

"It's fine," he stepped inside and headed for the footlocker to sit. "Do you remember Dr. Rand from the camp?"

"Sorta." Carl wrinkled his nose. "My mom and Shane told me to leave her alone." Carl sat on his bed. "You think it's her? The Castle lady?"

"I don't know. She wasn't with us long."

"Shane said she died."

"I remember."

"She didn't really talk to us much. I think she talked to Dale a lot."

Glenn sighed at his tone. He knew Carl still felt bad about Dale.

"She didn't like Shane," he continued.

"Yeah, no shit," Glenn muttered.

"Does it matter?"

He sighed. "Not really, I guess. It'd be interesting to know if it was her or not."

"Why don't we go see?"

He snorted. "We're not going to the Castle just to see if it's her, Carl. Tony or Ash wouldn't let us waste gas for something like this."

"Then we volunteer to go to the Castle if anyone has any other questions."

Glenn had thought of volunteering to do it anyway. "Your dad."

"It wouldn't take long, right?"

"Jesus said about an hour or so. Still, your dad."

"He can come with us," Carl interrupted.

"We'll see, Carl."

"I want to go."

"Go where, Carl?" Rick asked as he stood in the doorway. Glenn looked up quickly.

"To see the Castle lady. Rand. We think we know her," Carl answered.


	12. Chapter 12

Rick raised his eyebrows. "You think you know her? From where?" This was a surprise to him. He'd been with Carl and Glenn pretty much since he woke up and Glenn had found him in Atlanta.

"The quarry," he answered right away.

"What?"

"There was a woman that showed up the quarry the same time we did," Glenn started to explain. "It was, like, the first few days after we were told to go to Atlanta." He cleared his throat. "It was me, Dale, Andrea, Amy, Carol, Ed and Sophia, George Morales and his family, Shane, Lori and Carl. She showed up after George. The night they bombed Atlanta. She didn't stay long, only a few days then she left."

"Shane said she died," Carl added.

Rick frowned. "You think it's this woman?"

Glenn frowned. "I'm…not sure, Rick. Carl doesn't really remember. I barely remember her. I. It was the name. She made Shane call her Dr. Rand. We all called her that."

"Was she a doctor?"

"She said she was. Not a medical doctor. She had a PhD or something. That's what they call people that have a PhD. Doctor, right?"

"Yes, it's what they call people who have a PhD," Aaron said from behind Rick. "Um, I could hear you," he informed them.

Rick turned to see Aaron standing behind him. "Alright. Glenn, Tony sent me down here because you're supposed to be in the watch room."

"Shit," he shouted and stood up fast. "I'll go down right now."

Aaron watched as Glenn stuttered.

"Okay, but I wanna hear more about her."

Glenn shifted his feet. "There's not much more to tell, Rick. I'm not even sure it's her. I know she put Shane on his ass." Aaron saw Carl's eyes get wide. "She left. Shane said she was going back to Atlanta to check on people."

"What did she have her degree in?" he questioned.

"Astrophysics or something. I can't remember. She didn't really talk to me. She mostly talked to Dale, Andrea and Amy."

Aaron didn't know those people so he assumed they'd been with Rick and Glenn and Carl before. Sometimes it brought him up short when he realized other people had lived and died before he and Eric recruited Rick and his group to Alexandria. He knew people did, but it was a transitory type of knowing. Morgan had found his way to Alexandria and he knew Rick from the beginning. It was still a small world.

"We'll talk about it later," Rick repeated. "You should get goin', Glenn."

"Right. Watch. Shit. Is Tony pissed?" he asked worriedly.

"No, he's not pissed. Worried. None of us have ever missed or been late for watch. Maggie didn't say anythang to him about you being sick."

Glenn seemed to relax. "Good. I'll." He sighed. "We can talk about this later, if you want, but there's not much more to tell. Rand might not even be this woman's real name."

Aaron stood back as Glenn left the room. Carl took his towel and rubbed his still wet hair. Rick watched with a puzzled look on his face. "Carl?"

Carl threw the towel across to his laundry basket. "Dad?"

"You don't remember her? At all?"

Carl huffed. "Not really. I didn't know she put Shane on his ass."

"Carl," Rick scolded. "Watch your language."

* * *

Abraham was whistling while he worked. Tony and Ash thought sending people to do patrol with the Castle was a good idea. Everyone did. Almost everyone. Maria and Esteban weren't crazy about it. Hannah, Keaton, Mike and a few others liked the Castle did it but didn't want any one of them to do it. After everyone had asked any question they could think of, for patrol, by vote, they were sending people to do patrol. He could go to the Castle or they could pick him up here. He didn't give a shit. It was a chance to be out with a mission, besides runs.

He didn't give a shit about the market either, although if they could trade for some ham and cheese, he wouldn't look sideways. He had everything he needed here. They were in a safe-ish place, they had enough food and they hardly saw any walkers or other people. He had Sasha. Now he was going to have a mission, too. Tony decided he and Abraham would do the first one. Ash didn't think her and Tony leaving at the same time for that long was a good idea. They could switch off with anyone else that wanted to do one. Abraham would do the next one with Ash. He counted off the days. Tony would take him and Glenn and Ash to the Castle. Glenn and Ash were going to recommend the list, find the hotel and walk through it while he and Tony and the others started patrol.

He wasn't surprised to see everyone outside the day they were leaving with Sasha standing close to him. "Be careful," she hissed.

He smirked at her. "Don't worry, Sash. I'll be back."

She laughed a little. "I know."

"Got a lot to come back for," he told her.

Abraham liked it when he could catch her off guard. She shuffled her feet and looked at the ground. Before he got in the minivan, Tony behind the wheel, she kissed him quickly then she shrugged. "A little incentive."

He smiled wide and wiggled his eyebrows. "I like the incentive."

"Get in, Ford," Tony rolled his eyes.

* * *

Glenn was watching out the passenger side window of the backseat, but not really paying attention. He and Tony had been up and down state route 81. Tony more than him. He noticed Ash and Tony were talking quietly. When they got close to the turnoff for Williamsville, Tony pointed it out, telling Abraham it's where the Training Grounds was located. He knew, as he'd been there once before.

He wondered what he was going to say to this woman if it wasn't Dr. Rand. 'Hey, your name is the same as someone I used to know in the beginning'. He really wouldn't know what to say if it was her. 'Hey, remember me? Why'd you leave? Why didn't you come back and get us?' He and the others of their group sat down one night after Aaron heard him, Carl and Rick and explained.

Jesus narrowed his eyes and described her again. It had been so long ago, Glenn really didn't remember many characteristics except she had brown hair and she demanded that one of their group call her Dr. Rand. It was in the beginning when no one really knew what was happening. He didn't ask many questions. Why would he? Jesus thought it was a long shot. There could be more people out there with the last name of Rand.

"That's if her last name is Rand. It could be her first name."

"Like you said, we don't know if Rand is her real name," Aaron repeated his earlier statement.

He'd asked Tony and Ash if he could go down, him and Maggie, and discuss the list idea with Rand. They'd said yes to Glenn, but Ash would be handling anything market related. Maggie had pouted a little, but didn't say anything. Tony and Ash ran the Bunker and they weren't surprised. She admitted to him if she'd been running Hilltop and this had become a thing she'd want to be heavily involved with the planning and preparation, too.

He saw more signs for towns as they passed New Market. "We should shop here," Glenn suggested.

"We've been thinking about it ever since Linda proposed we send people to Mount Jackson together. The Castle probably did shop this area out. Another one that doesn't let grass grow," Ash responded.

Abraham shook his head. "They probably already thought of a lot of things, Glenn. They've been here longer than us."

Glenn rolled his eyes. He knew Abraham was right. They just…did what they'd done at the prison in Alexandria. Other people, obviously, started growing food. Hilltop had done it. The Kingdom had pigs, like Rick had in the prison.

"You and Sasha, huh?" he asked.

Abraham smiled wider. "Yeah. I'll be pouring the Bisquick soon."

Ash turned her head to face him, mouth open. "You didn't say that with a straight face," she demanded.

"I did. Loud and proud," he grinned.

Tony snorted. "You say some dumb shit, Ford. It makes me laugh but it's dumb shit."

Glenn couldn't help it. He laughed.

* * *

"Ready to go?" Rand looked at the patrol as they stood near the fence, away from the brick overpass. She always saw every patrol off. Michonne thought she was like a mom when her kid started the first day of school. Rand refused to listen that absolute lie. These were her people doing a kind of dangerous thing so they could stay alive. Sue her. They were important.

There had more signups once the Fort was sending someone and maybe that place up by Willow Grove would send someone. Instead of six, she was sending nine. Seth, Adrian, Bradford, Helen, Janet, Jamal, Jake, Dominic and Tammy. She was fairly good at reading people now so she didn't expect anyone from the Training Grounds or Blue Mountain this time out. She knew each of the communities, minus Lenny; they didn't know jack shit about his, carried some kind of weapon, but she remembered Michonne and Daryl knowing people that hadn't killed walkers. She wasn't taking any chances with her people.

"I'll go next time," Waya said from behind her.

"Really?" she asked as she turned to face him.

"Yes, really. We all know this is important, Rand, but we don't know these people. If they decide not to go next time around I'm still going. One of us needs to go. It'll be easier with one of us dealing with Lenny."

"Yeah," she huffed. "I didn't think this out well."

Waya laughed. "No you didn't. Not this time. If the Fort, or the others, continue to send people we'll have to let Lenny know he'll see some new faces, but no trading."

"I was kind of hoping he'd show up."

"You can't make him."

"I know."

"Showtime," Seth pointed at the car driving up to the fence. Demarcus pointed to an empty space beside it and the car parked. A young white guy with brown hair exited the vehicle. He paused for a minute. Rand knew Adrian loved the 'pose' as he called it. She thought it was stupid but Daryl admitted they looked kinda scary. Her surrounded by Adrian, Waya and Seth. It was Janet and Helen's idea. Michonne thought the United Colors of Benetton approach was different. Sometimes she didn't know why she was friends with those women.

"I'm Avery from the Fort," he stopped and introduced himself once he was let inside.

"Rand."

"Adrian," he smirked.

"Waya," he nodded.

"Seth," gave a little wave.

"The patrol," Rand pointed to the people waiting to her left. "Bradford, Helen, Janet, Jamal, Tammy, Jake and Dominic. Seth and Adrian are going to."

"I thought you sent six," Avery stated.

"Normally we do. Like we told Robert and Pauline, nothing really happens on patrol. We, no offense, have no idea how you'd react in a crisis situation. I'm sending some reinforcements."

Avery frowned. "I know how to kill roamers. I've survived a couple of big groups. I can handle myself."

"I'm sure you can, but I'm paranoid."

He looked at the patrol then shrugged. "Robert said you might send more people. Are we waiting on anyone else?"

She shrugged. "No clue. Everyone knows when we're leaving. If they aren't here, they aren't here and you go."

* * *

Glenn's mouth fell open when they pulled up to the spike covered fences. He'd known the Castle had them. Jess said they must have sacrificed porcupine families and she wasn't kidding.

"Bitch nuts," Abraham said.

"Bitch nuts? That's new," Tony chuckled. Even Ash laughed at that one. Tony pulled up beside the car already there, got out and headed inside the open gate. Ash was right again. These Castle people looked like they were serious. The white woman surrounded by a white guy, the Native American guy and a black guy. All with swords, he could see the handles behind their heads, and guns. Glenn narrowed his eyes. She looked like Dr. Rand. She was tall like her. Brown hair, but it was held back in a ponytail. The last time he'd seen her he'd thought her hair was shorter.

There was another white guy standing away from a group to the Castle lady's right. "They're sending more?" he looked at Tony.

He shrugged. "I guess."

"Tony. Ash," the woman spoke.

"Rand," Ash greeted.

"Rand," Tony echoed. "This is Abraham," he pointed to Abraham. "Another of our people, Glenn. Ash and Glenn are taking the car back so you don't have to watch it."

"Okay."

"Also, we have a suggestion about the market," Ash stated.

"I'm all ears. We'll get to that once the patrol leaves," Rand accepted. "Bradford, Helen, Janet, Jamal, Jake, Dominic and Tammy," she pointed them out as she said their names. "Seth and Adrian are going, as well. This gentleman," she pointed to the white guy standing away from everyone else, "is Avery from the Fort."

Avery nodded to them.

Adrian took the lead as he and Seth headed for the patrol group. "We're only doing a routine patrol this time out. We need to get a feel for everyone and you need to get a feel for how we do it."

Tony nodded in understanding.

After the details were laid out; what direction they headed first, places they were sleeping and how long it should take, the group left. When they were out of sight, Rand motioned with her hand to some chairs that were sitting out. He and Ash sat down and as soon as Rand and the man, Glenn assumed to be Waya, took the swords off their backs, did the same.

"Suggestions?" Rand asked as she sat back in her chair, crossing her legs.

"A list of what community is bringing what," Ash started right away.

"Hm. That's a good idea. It might give the others incentive to set up." She nodded. "And if this doesn't work out, lists of what each community has will make trading easier."

"What we were thinking," Ash leaned forward, elbows on her knees. "You haven't heard from anyone else?"

"Not yet, but we may get answers when the patrol comes back. You didn't sound to sure when you and Tony were here."

"True. I think some of us would go just to meet new people," Ash admitted.

"Perhaps we could make it a 'meet and greet' with a potluck," Waya suggested.

"Also not a bad idea." Rand narrowed her eyes in thought. "That might be better."

"One big hoe down," Ash laughed.

"One big something," the woman responded absently. "That might be better, to tell you the truth. And if the communities wanted to trade, they can trade."

While the two women and Waya discussed the possibilities of a potluck, Glenn took the opportunity to study the castle in the distance. Ash wasn't lying, it really looked like a castle. The brick walkway had several people doing watch and in the distance he could see stone walls. Shit. He wished they would have found this place before Alexandria. Glenn could barely make out people walking along the top of the walls and wondered how they did it. Did the castle people build a sidewalk or something?

"Can you tell us where the hotel is now?" Ash's question brought him back into the conversation.

Rand shrugged. "Sure. All of the fencing's not up yet, but the walkers aren't much of a problem. Nothing to eat and we cleared most of them out."

"Shopped it out?" Ash raised an eyebrow

"Shopped? Interesting word," Waya commented.

"You could say that. Anyway, we only have part of it up, but you're more than welcome to check it out."

Rand and Waya stood, Ash and him followed suit. "Where?"

He paid attention as directions were given, Ash was checking with him to see if he was listening. Glenn nodded after Rand was done. Ash went through the gate first and he paused before he turned and left. It didn't matter.

* * *

Waya watched the car leave as he stood a little behind Rand as she did the same. "Do you know him?"

Rand turned with a frown. "No."

* * *

The hotel wasn't that far from the Castle, Ash noted as she drove the nearly empty streets. A few walkers but nothing major. Not like in the beginning. When they pulled up she saw part of a fence installed around the front of the hotel. Making sure Glenn was still with her, they got out and walked around and to the front door. Glenn knocked and they waited. He did it again then pulled the front door open. Knives out, they entered the empty lobby. She wrinkled her nose.

"Smells," she complained.

"Yeah," he agreed as he headed to the front desk. She stood watch not far from the door and him as he searched. "Nothing," he said as he came to stand near her.

"Figured. Worth a shot."

Glenn nodded in agreement. They walked around the small lobby and Ash noticed all the furniture was moved against a wall. She didn't consider it a waste of time as they checked out the entire bottom floor of the hotel. The rooms were stripped, but the furniture was left. Ducking into the bathrooms they noticed everything was gone.

"They didn't fuck around," Ash whistled.

"No they didn't," Glenn grimaced as they left the last room of the hallway to the left of the front desk. Deeper in the building they found a stripped kitchen and a meeting room, furniture up against a wall.

"They have balls. I'd never want to try a hotel," she admitted.

Glenn shrugged. "It might not be bad now, Ash. We did it. It's how we found you."

"I know, but still, going through all the rooms? There could have been assholes holed up in here." Ash didn't doubt all the rooms would be emptied of 'essentials'. They hadn't seen any clothes from anyone staying here, either.

"Maybe, but you were right. They look like they meant business." Glenn followed her to the front of the hotel.

She didn't want to waste more time going through the place. She believed Rand when she said they'd cleaned the place out. "Wait." She ducked into the women's bathroom off the lobby. Going into a stall she flushed the toilet and ran water. It was cold but it worked. She was smiling wide when she came out. She wouldn't have been surprised if Glenn thought she was crazy. "Flushing toilets. Running water."

The man frowned. "We have that."

"We do. How many others do?"

He shrugged. "You're right. We have a septic system?"

"Oh yeah," she muttered as they headed outside and to the car. She slammed the door and started it up, pulling onto the road and back home. "Crazy ass grandpa. Racial war."

"We were surprised when you told us. Up front with it," Glenn commented.

"You know," she sighed. "I loved my grandfather. Tony and I spent time with him when we were little on his farm in Texas. My dad said we came back after a few weeks when we were little using the n word. Later, when we were older, we found out my grandmother, we barely remembered her, had been in a car accident. The driver was a young black kid, high as a kite. The kid's dad was a judge so he was sentenced to rehab, no time. I think my grandpa lost his mind over it."

"How old were you?"

"We were eleven. When we didn't go the next summer we didn't think anything of it. We were more worried about what our friends were doing for summer and never looked back." She shrugged now. "We'd talk to him on the phone occasionally. Sometimes I'm sorry we didn't do more. Then I remember what we found at the Bunker and I'm glad, too." Glenn, she could see from the corner of her eye, stared out the windshield. "Sorry. I didn't mean to unload on you."

"It's fine."

They drove in silence until New Market. "You?" she broke it with the question.

"Both sets of my grandparents were in Korea. They were alive before this," he stated.

"You ever talk about your families?" It was one of the weird things her and Tony both noticed about Grimes and his group. Everyone at the Bunker had mentioned someone from before this. Most of them knew each other or had heard of each other or knew someone that knew someone. Even Lisa and Andrew mentioned their spouses, whom they'd lost during this, once or twice.

He shook his head. "No."

She stopped trying to engage him. Ash guessed she understood. When this first started and they'd found out how bad it was they were both pissed they couldn't get a flight to New York. Driving across country hadn't seemed feasible, but they both felt like shit they didn't know if their mom and dad were still alive. Probably not. They lived on Long Island. Maybe one day they'd go back and find out, but they lived in the Bunker and their grandfather was a lot closer than their parents. Or maybe it was because they hadn't gone through what Grimes and his group had gone through. The cannibals still gave her the creeps.

* * *

Tony was impressed with the patrol when they made it to Stanton, the first stop. He was worried the older folks wouldn't be able to make the trek in spite of what Rand said to them a few weeks ago. They were spry, he'd give them that. If he said it he wouldn't be surprised if he was punched in the face. The house they were staying in was two stories and they each had an hour of watch. Adrian and Seth put him, Abraham and Avery at the beginning with the rest taking the later shifts. Abraham, he saw, was bedding down in one of the bedrooms with Avery. He put his backpack down on the floor when Helen knocked on the door before stepping inside.

"Did you bring food?"

"We did, ma'am," Abraham answered.

The woman rolled her eyes. "We have some jerky stashed here, if you'd like some."

"Great," Tony responded. "We, uh, we brought protein and granola bars. We weren't sure."

The woman frowned. "We do hunt when we're out. Seth and Adrian will. If you can, you're welcome to help." She cleared her throat. "If your group decides to do this what would they be able to offer? Protein and granola bars?"

"Uh, we hadn't gotten that far," he confessed.

"Jerky sounds good," Avery accepted. "We'll leave dried vegetables and fruits."

She smiled a little. "You dry your fruits and vegetables?"

"We do. Pauline's husband was a cook, before. We dry meat, too." He shot them a look. "We thought everyone did."

"We eat fresh. This is our first time," Tony glared at the smart ass.

Helen coughed. "I'm sure everyone eats fresh now. You have to if you want to survive. Moving along, we'll take the protein and granola bars, if it's what you have. The point of this exercise is surviving and every little bit helps." She nodded once and left the room.

Avery took the bedroll from the top of his backpack, laid it on the floor and headed out, not looking at them once.

"I guess we'll have to come up with something else," he muttered angrily.

Abraham shrugged. "I'll eat the protein bars."

"I don't think we know how to dry food. Shit," he grumbled.

"I guess we'll learn."


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Some more fluff.

* * *

Ash fell on the floor of Tony's room, laughing. He and Abraham had done one week and two days of patrol, having just gotten back to the Bunker. Abraham took off the minute he made it inside the gate. Tony was pissed. After he got out of the shower he sat with her and told her everything that had happened on patrol.

"It was good, but we're seriously behind. I don't even know if Linda dries food. What the hell, Ash? I'm telling you, Helen and Bradford are in better shape than me and Ford put together. I need to do another one."

"After me, bro." She frowned. "How do you dry food, anyway?"

"Fuck if I know, but we better figure it out. Helen didn't say anything about what we brought and would be able to leave, but she practically doted on Avery, the smart ass. 'Pauline's husband was a cook, before. We thought everyone did it'," he snarled. "Dickhead." He looked out his window before falling back on his bed. "I did miss this. But this was good, Ash. I'm glad we decided to do this." He sat up. "You?"

"Glenn and I checked out the hotel. It's not far from the Castle. Fifteen, twenty minutes by car. They shopped the entire hotel, Tone. Everything. No sheets, towels, clothes, toiletries, even the vending machines were empty. All they left was furniture. The toilet and water both work. They only had a small part of the fence up, near the lobby door. Rand was open to just a 'meet and greet potluck' before the market started. Her idea. She liked mine, but thought a meet and greet would be nice. Can't say she's wrong."

"Yeah, I can't say she's wrong, either. Shit. We should spend time with this woman." He smirked. "She's nice looking."

Ash laughed again. "I wondered why you didn't say anything."

He shrugged. "I'll tell this again at dinner. I'm not kidding. We should spend time with her. Get some ideas. We haven't been lazy, but." He looked out his window again. "We haven't been trying? Not the right word, but you know what I mean. She has this _stone castle_ , a monthly patrol and started a ring of trading slash protection partners. Her people are in shape, know how to kill biters, quiet as shit. Impressive."

"We're not putting our people through boot camp just to impress this woman. She's not that good looking, Tone," Ash scoffed.

"Oh, I know that. I'm thinking me, you and Ford will be the only ones able to do this, Ash, and me and Ford were dragging ass. Anyone else we'll take on a case by case."

"You think I'll drag ass?"

"Yeah, you will. They don't fuck around. Straight walking for fourteen hours, a few breaks, down for ten and back at it in the morning. Not a lot of chit chat, even at night."

"Is that why you and Ford didn't finish?"

"We sure as hell didn't want to walk back here. Next time, you and Ford take the car and leave it."

"You think he'll want to go again?" Ash questioned.

"Not sure, but I won't stop you from going. I think you should."

* * *

Sasha was waiting for Abraham to get out of the shower. She was happy the hot water tank was solar and big. She really appreciated it. After twenty minutes he emerged with a towel around his waist and headed for his footlocker.

"Well?"

"Those people were all in the service," he snorted before disappearing into the bathroom.

"Really?" she raised her voice.

He was back out in boxers, rubbing his hair dry. "They should have been. I'm out of shape."

"Are you going to do it again?" she asked.

"Hell, yeah. Two people looked to be around Carol's age and they were acting like it was a gentle hike. Avery's an ass. He's from the Fort." He threw his towel in the direction of their laundry basket before laying on his bed. "I missed this. We're spoiled here," he noted.

Sasha supposed they were spoiled living here. They had food, weapons, people that knew what was going on, could kill walkers and they weren't in fear for their lives. It was better than the prison. She wasn't even counting Alexandria as having been a good place.

"I missed you," she admitted quietly.

He turned his head with a smirk, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

She threw one of her pillows at him with a laugh. "Ass."

"Push the beds together?"

She laid down and stared at the ceiling. "Not yet."

"Whenever you're ready, Sash."

She turned her head toward him with a small smile on her face.

* * *

Abraham gave Sash his best shit eating grin. He knew he'd wear her down eventually. The Ford charm was still strong. "Glenn? Did he know Rand?"

"Were they scary looking?" she countered.

"They looked like…" He trailed off. When he'd seen Rand surrounded by those men they did look like they meant business. "I think Negan would have killed them all."

"Glenn said he didn't ask. It didn't matter," she finally answered.

He grunted. Glenn was right. It didn't matter now.

"Castle?" Sasha asked.

"Genuine," he drew the word out, "stone walls."

At dinner Tony was telling everyone about the patrol. He, of course, was throwing in his ten cents, making Sasha smile. He saw Aaron and Jesus roll their eyes a few times.

"Were you impressed?" Jared had wandered over beside him.

"Those people have some balls."

"I mean with Rand? Ash seems to think she's nice looking," he continued.

"The woman looked like she'd freeze my nuts off." Sasha turned her head away and coughed. It was the truth and he wasn't interested.

* * *

Rick shook his head. The Bunker was just buzzin'. It kinda reminded him of Alexandria. With time and distance, he could see how the Alexandrians were like the folks he lived near in King County. Any new or odd thing set the town on its ear. He'd been like that, once upon a time. What he'd gone through since he woke up knocked that small town mentality right out of his head. He was glad to see Abraham and Tony back in one piece. Everyone was going to dissect what they heard from the men and add it to the other gossip about the Castle and the hotel, the leaders of the other communities and the market.

He watched as Carl paid close attention to what Abraham and Tony were saying. He knew Carl would want to go one day. He wanted to go to the 'meet and greet' Ash and Rand talked over. It wasn't a bad way for everyone to meet first, instead of being found or stumbling across each other. It didn't worked out well for Hilltop or the Kingdom. Or Alexandria, he huffed out a breath. Or the prison. Michonne found them, but so did the Governor. He didn't count Merle because Daryl brought him in. This Rand woman was smart, trying to find other communities first. It'd be nice to see other people and other communities. Maybe Carl could meet kids his own age. After dinner he sat with Carl while he did his homework and was hopeful that maybe something would come out of this.

* * *

Aaron was listening intently to Tony as he told them of his and Abraham's experiences doing patrol. It sounded interesting but he didn't think he had the ambition to do a long hike like the one the Castle did and he found himself being more grateful, and impressed, with the place. He liked his life right now. Fences. Food. Guns. Living. He was interested in the meet and greet. If too many of them wanted to go he'd stay back and do the market thing. Hearing how many communities were along The Castle route, as everyone called it, was heartening and depressing. It was nice they had backup but it would be better if there were more communities out there.

* * *

Jesus watched and listened as Tony, with little sidebars by Abraham, recounted their patrol experience. He wanted to do it. He'd volunteer for the one after Ash. He was sure it was hard, all that walking, but it'd be nice to get a feel for the broader area. He hadn't done it at Hilltop, which was a mistake. He might have found the Saviors before they found Hilltop. Or he could have stumbled on Alexandria sooner than finding Rick and Aaron on a run.

He knew there were more communities, they just needed to find them. Rand had a head start. Maybe he'd ask to head an expedition to other areas. She seemed to be leading this charge. Smart woman. Jesus was pretty sure Tony and Ash would be okay with him leaving for long periods of time if it helped them out in the long run. He'd have to find a way to bring things back.

* * *

"You think it'll be like Deanna's party?" Sasha asked Abraham. She couldn't remember much. Those clueless people standing around drinking, eating, talking and generally being obnoxious. She remembered yelling at one of the Alexandrians about her favorite food. The memory, she couldn't recall who had asked, wasn't fresh, but the feelings were still _there._

"I don't know, darling, but this Rand woman and her bodyguards are nothing like Deanna and Reg."

She hummed. If the woman had a castle with steel spikes on the fence, she didn't think Glenn and Abraham or Tony and Ash were lying, it put her above Deanna. Sasha didn't want to lose herself again. She'd go, but if it turned out like before she'd find a room and wait for the others.

* * *

Glenn laughed a little as Maggie gave Ash ideas for the 'meet and greet', if they had it. They were definitely going, if only so Maggie could ask Rand if she'd been in Atlanta. She'd been disappointed when he came back and told her he didn't ask. She hadn't seen the woman. She didn't look friendly at all. Waya, that was his name, had seemed friendlier. They were all very…business, like Ash had said when they came back from the Castle the first time. He didn't know why she was interested. Even Carl had seemed to forget about Dr. Rand.

If he was honest with himself he was looking forward to the meet and greet. It would be nice to socialize with other people than the ones he saw every day. He liked most of the people here. Tony and Ash were good leaders but it would be nice to break the monotony once in a while.

* * *

Carl listened as Abraham and Tony talked about the patrol. He liked being here but one day maybe he'd like to do it. He did want to go to the meet and greet. It would be a chance to see other people and maybe other kids. His dad even sounded like he wanted like to go.

As he did his homework, he wondered if his dad could meet someone, too. He liked Hannah, more than he liked Jessie Anderson, but Hannah reminded him of his mom. His mom and dad didn't get along near the end and he didn't want his dad to go through it again.

* * *

Daryl was sittin' in the solar with the stooges and the kids. 'Chonne and Rand were off doin' somethin' with Tom for the 'ice breaker'. He shook his head and watched as Jasper and Andy played with blocks in the playpen they'd set up. Jasper was droolin' his little heart out.

He and Michonne would never regret stayin' in the keep. These people, his people, were family.

He looked up when he heard a click to see Adrian sitting on one of the sofas with a camera. He smirked at Daryl. Adrian could be an ass. "Cute pictures. I'll hook it up to a printer. I'm sure Janet, in all of her crafting glory, has some picture paper."

Seth laughed a little. "I'm sure she does. I think Jake and company cleaned out the craft stores in a three mile area."

"I'm glad. It's nice to have more of before." Waya grinned as he watched the kids play.

He rolled his eyes. It was nice. He never thought he'd have a woman, let alone a kid. He'd ask 'Chonne if she wanted to start one. "Why?" he asked the man.

Adrian shrugged. "We can. We should. Our kids are so damn good looking."

"We might as well enjoy it while we can, Daryl. Who knows how long the batteries will last?" Seth pointed out.

"I can't see production ramping up any time soon," Waya added. "It's a good idea, Adrian."

"Yeah. Me and 'Chonne should do it, too," Daryl said. He would. He'd ask Tom to find him one of those cameras and batteries. They had to have taken some from the department store or the electronics store. Maybe even the pawn shop. He wanted to take his own pictures. Of his son. Of his woman. Maybe even the stooges.

Adrian laughed. "I can see us now. Gossipy old men bringing out the embarrassing pictures to our grandkids."

He coughed. "What?"

"We're going to grow old, Daryl," Waya enunciated like he was slow. "We'll be old men, gossiping about the Castle. Embarrassing our kids and grandkids."

He thought about it. He was gonna grow old. It'd be nice, when he got old, to sit with Michonne and look through an album of pictures of their kids, family and friends. He smiled a little. "Yeah. We're gonna grow old." He watched the kids. Jasper looked like he was ready to sleep. His banging and babblin' was getting slower and lower. "Never thought I would."

The scouting trip had turned into movie fests in the solar. When they'd stripped the town they found a lot of movies and even some football games on DVD's. They'd have a few drinks, watch movies, eat and talk. He told them about Merle, not a lot, but some. He found out about Adrian, Seth and Waya's families. Not a lot, but some.

Michonne was right. It was good he spent time with his friends. He had a safe place to admit he was scared when 'Chonne was pregnant and they had a safe place to bitch when Rand was pregnant. They didn't make fun of him, but he made fun of them. 'Course, Rand was a bitch when she was pregnant. After she gave birth, it was a long, long six months, he was almost as excited as they were.

They spent the rest of the time, until 'Chonne and Rand showed up, just talkin' about the Castle, the kids, the fencin' around the hotel, the market and the 'ice breaker' bullshit. He didn't wanna go, but knew he was gonna. It would be good for the Castle to have Rand, the stooges and the advisors there. They didn't know how the other communities worked. Him and 'Chonne only knew how it worked with Rick at the prison, Deanna in Alexandria and Rand.

One of Daryl's favorite things to do, next to bein' in bed with 'Chonne, was takin' Jasper down to the farm and watch him try and play with the animals now he was older. He and 'Chonne would hold hands, somethin' he'd never done before in his life, while he carried Jasper and watched as the boy tried to wriggle, now he was kinda walkin' he tried to get in everywhere, out of his arms.

"Adrian was takin' pictures of the kids," he commented as Jasper held out his arms to Spot. The horse ignored them and drank from the trough before headin' into the barn. Jasper started to whine.

"It's time to go to bed, young man," Michonne crooned to him as she leaned against Daryl.

He didn't like that much, makin' Daryl laugh and hold his son in front of his face, growling. Jasper settled down and giggled before Daryl took his woman's hand in his again and headed toward the Castle. "Was thinkin' maybe we should get a camera and take pictures. Embarrass him when he gets older."

"We should," she agreed as she kissed his cheek. "Photo album?"

"Yeah. Bet Janet has some shit for one."

'Chonne laughed. "She does. Have you seen the storage area near the guns?"

"Not really. I try and stay away from it," he replied.

She bumped him with her hip. "It's good we can do it."

"Yeah." He tugged her hand, forcing her to stop. When she looked up he lightly kissed her on the lips. "I love you, 'Chonne. I love Jasper. We're gonna grow old here. Have grandkids."

She smiled up at him. "I love you, too, Daryl Dixon. I love our son. We are. We're going to grow old here. Have grandkids. Spoil them rotten."

* * *

Michonne snuggled up to Daryl after Jasper finally fell asleep. He held her close and she knew he was sleeping, too.

They were going to grow old here. When this first started she never thought of the future. At the prison her goal, no matter how long it took, was to find the Governor. Maybe try and have a relationship, fuck buddies or something with Daryl, but she never thought long term. Until here. She _was_ going to have grandkids and spoil them rotten. Maybe, just maybe, she and Daryl could have another child. A brother or sister for Jasper. She knew Daryl would want another one. He, not surprisingly, had been there during the labor and after. He changed diapers, got up at all hours and sat with them while Jasper ate, burped him and put him back to bed. He was a very involved father. When not doing watch, teaching his classes, down on the farm or with her and Rand going over Castle business, he spent most of the time with her and Jasper.

When the movie fests slash football games started Jasper spent time with him and his friends, like Andy spent time with the women during their 'lunches', which now included Jenny. They had good life here with good people.

She knew Daryl didn't want to do the ice breaker, she didn't either, but accepted they needed to go. They needed to get the communities to bond with each other. The Castle couldn't do it all. Robert wanting to do patrol had Rand sighing in relief and muttering 'finally'. Her plan to send a few of the residents out farther was a good idea. Michonne knew Bradford and Helen were a little troubled Jake was one of the ones volunteering. She thought it would be good for him and the Castle. He'd changed a lot since the family came here. He could handle himself. All of their people could handle themselves. When the others got back from patrol and gave their report Jake, Tammy, Dominic and Jonathan Wilmer were scheduled to leave two weeks later, unless they wanted to stay for the gathering.

She heard Jasper turn over in his crib. They needed to do pictures. Something she didn't think she'd be able to do again. Michonne snuggled more into Daryl and smiled when his arms tightened around her. She kissed his chest and went to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

Maggie was anxious. She felt like it was going to be Christmas Eve for the next two months. After Abraham and Tony came back from patrol Crazy Ass was still abuzz with gossip and conjecture. After listening to them, she had more respect for Rand and the Castle. They did this every month. She was trying to bring the communities closer together. And it would be kind of cool if Glenn did know her.

Maggie wished she'd done somethin' like this at Hilltop. Of course, they were too busy trying to not _die_ and keep that bastard Negan off their backs. She could do something here. She was doing something here. After Tony was all pouty about drying food, she and Ash had gone on a run to the library tryin' to find books. Which was a good idea anyway. Canning was proposed, so they were going to learn how to do that, too. She wondered why crazy ass grandpa didn't think of it. Probably because it was a woman's job. Maggie remembered Annette spending time in the kitchen canning food. She'd been young and not interested in learning. If Gregory had started canning right away or drying food right away they might not have been so bad off with. She sighed. It wouldn't have mattered. The Saviors would have taken it all.

Hannah had dried fruit using one of those drying machines, she didn't know what the hell they were, but she'd find out now. They had electricity to use one.

"Hey," Sasha nudged her as she sat down next to her on the porch steps.

"Hey," she nudged her back. Sasha seemed to be happier. "Abraham?" she teased her friend. It was funny how Sasha squirmed.

"Maybe," she finally admitted.

"Good."

"Are you going to do a patrol?" Sasha asked after a few minutes of watching the others.

"No. Glenn isn't either."

She nodded. "I'm thinking of doing one."

"I like it here." She sipped her water. "We're trying for a baby."

"It's a good place."

She smiled at Sasha. "It's a good place. Sometimes, when we first got here, I wished we'd headed for the mountains and told Abraham to fuck off."

"Yeah. Me, too." She shrugged. "I like him."

"He's good for you, Sasha."

"Looking forward to the 'meet and greet'?" Sasha changed the subject.

"Yes," she whooped. "It'll be a chance to meet with the others, not just the patrols or people from the Training Grounds. I hope Ash and Tony try and pick this woman's brain. Drying food. I wouldn't be surprised if they canned it."

"If it turns out like the party Deanna threw us…" she trailed off.

"I liked Deanna." Maggie cleared her throat at the look on Sasha's face. "After, I mean. She stepped down when she realized she didn't know how it was. Her idea of living like before? I liked that. I wanted that. I have it now. Again. I won't give it up. Not after everything." Not after all the losses, the heartbreaks.

"I miss the prison sometimes," Sasha admitted quietly. "It wasn't much, but it was ours."

"Me, too, Sasha. Me, too."

They sat in silence for a while. "A baby?" Sasha asked.

Maggie smiled. "A baby. We could have one and not worry about too much. Ash said she delivered babies before."

"Good place to have a baby. Beth and Jared think so anyway."

"It is. We don't have a lot of problems, like we did at the prison or Hilltop. If this market thing works out? It'd be better. We already know we can count on the Training Grounds and the Castle for protection if it's something we can't handle."

"That's nice. I wish…" she trailed off.

Maggie grabbed Sasha's hand and squeezed. "Yeah. Me, too, Sasha. Me, too."

Sasha nudged her shoulder again, a smile on her face.

* * *

Carl looked at the invitation again. The patrol had dropped it off a few weeks ago and Ash had put it on the refrigerator so everyone could see it. He was getting excited. The list, right next to it, had the names of everyone and whether they were staying behind or going. He wasn't surprised Maria and Esteban were staying here. Sometimes she wasn't very nice. She reminded him of one of their neighbors in King County, Mrs. Parsons. She wasn't very nice either. He saw his dad wrote down their names to go.

It would be nice to do something different. He liked Crazy Ass. He didn't have to go out and fight anyone, he spent time with his dad and the others and he went to school, kind of. It was peaceful, but boring sometimes. Carl could tell most everyone else was excited, too.

He took one last look at the list then headed back to his room to read one of the books he'd read before. He was done with his schoolwork. Hannah was a good teacher, there wasn't a lot to do. He wondered what it would have been like if this hadn't happened. If his homework would have gotten harder. Carl remembered high school kids got out after grade school kids. He put the book on his chest and stared at the ceiling.

He hardly thought of before. He'd been ten when this started, just another day at school when his mom picked him up and told him his dad had been shot and was in a coma. They'd gone to see him before they had to leave for Atlanta. They never made it until after his dad came back, then it was almost like a scary field trip. He still didn't like wine. Not that he had a lot after. He and Enid had snuck some out of Deanna's house one time and she didn't like it either. Carl sighed. Things changed a lot since then and he missed her.

It couldn't go back to like before, he knew. He was a kid but he wasn't stupid. He'd done and seen a lot. This? Boring but better. He grinned as he picked the book back up. They were going to the meet and greet. He couldn't wait.

* * *

Sasha looked at the beds and cursed herself she didn't get any other sheets while they'd done the furniture run. Maggie had passed over the zip ties with barely a smirk on her face. She told Sasha they were doable for the short term, but if her and Abraham were 'enthusiastic' they should plan on getting a bigger bed. The eyebrow raise in her direction had Maggie blushing and laughing a little. She didn't press because she really didn't want to know about her friends sex lives. Sasha hoped they had a baby but she didn't need the nitty gritty details.

That was what did it for Sasha. Maggie telling her they were trying for a baby. This was a good place and they really wouldn't have to worry too much about walkers or assholes. If she could do it? Maybe Sasha should consider having more of a life. Living. They lived here. They contributed, they ate and they interacted. They were part of this place. Yeah, sometimes it was boring as shit, but it beat the alternative. She'd lived the alternative, aside from dying or being a walker. She'd take the boring _life_ , thank you very much.

She laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. She didn't know where Abraham was now, she knew he wasn't on watch and he didn't leave the Bunker. If he did he would have told her before he left. Something she appreciated. She cared for him. A lot. Thinking about before Alexandria and after Sasha figured she started to care for him after. He did say some stupid things. He'd done stupid things, but he was always there. For them. For her. She could count on him.

"Sash?" he stood over her. She'd been so in her head she wasn't paying attention. "Are you sure?"

She smiled up at him. "Let's live."

He laughed and started stripping.

* * *

Abraham could tell Sasha was laughing as he was stuck between the two twin beds. Her face was buried in a pillow but he could tell. "Darling, you ride wild," he smirked at her as he heaved himself on one of the twin beds. "Tomorrow we're going furniture shopping."

"To be honest, Maggie said this might not work," she said while laughing. Then she got serious. "Sorry."

"Next time, Sash."

"Aren't you…mad?" she whispered.

"I ain't happy, but my balls aren't so blue they'll fall off. Next time though."

"Can I help you?" She cringed. "That sounded awful."

He snorted. "Never turn down a helping hand." He stretched out, arms behind his head and watched as she helped him out.

Ten minutes later, he was a sad sack of shit, he held his arm out she moved into them and laid her head on his chest. "Double bed. More sheets."

"Damn straight."

When he woke up Sasha was gone and a travel mug of what he knew was coffee was sitting on the night table she'd picked out. He sat up and against the wall, thinking and sipping. Last night could have been a clusterfuck of the highest order. It wasn't the best time he'd ever had and it wasn't the worst. Next time, he grinned to himself, they'd have a hell of a time. They needed a new bed.

He thought of who he could ask to go with them and. Huh. He didn't have any friends. Except Sasha. It wasn't smart for just the two of them to go. They'd be trying to load a mattress and a frame and kill the little bit of walkers that could still walk and hope no assholes showed up. Maybe Hector. He got along with him fine. He couldn't say that for a lot of the people here. They didn't appreciate his sense of humor.

Laying back down, cup on his chest, he went over everyone he could possibly ask. Tony. Hector. He could ask Rick or Glenn but he didn't think they were friends. Rosita and her group, they weren't his friends. Eugene sure as hell wasn't his friend. Rick? Well, he followed Rick. They never talked about personal things. It wasn't any of his business who he was bumping uglies with. At one time, he'd have thought Michonne. Rick stared at her ass enough. So did he, though. Then she left. After he took over, Abraham didn't give a goat's left nut what the hell Rick did because they were just trying to stay alive. Fuck it. He got out of bed and headed for the shower. He'd ask Tony to go with him.

The guy wasn't too bad on patrol. Like Tony, his ass had been kicked hard. He wished Sasha had decided to do this before. He and Ash were leaving for another patrol in two days. They were doing the whole thing this time. When he left his room he saw Glenn and Rick waiting. "We're waiting on Sasha and Maggie," Rick smirked at him. "I guess you need another bed."

Abraham stood there. He did have friends.

* * *

Even though no one had asked him Rick thought Sasha and Abraham made a good couple. It was nice to see his people settling down and living their lives. As he drove the truck back to the furniture store he admitted to himself he was horny. He never thought about settling down with a woman, not after everythang. Maybe he should. He got along with Hannah well enough. He liked her. She was good with kids. After the one disastrous time with Jessie he hadn't had sex since…Lori at the CDC. Years ago. Sometimes if felt like forever.

They were coming up on the year mark and so far nothing catastrophic had happened. It usually did before now. They weren't at the prison a year before the asshole Governor blew it up. Alexandria ran into issues right away with Deanna losing both her sons before he took over. Then the Wolves and losing Judith. He wasn't interested in much after that, except trying to keep everyone alive. Negan and the Saviors almost broke him.

Finding Crazy Ass had been good for all of them. It gave them a chance to live. That could include being close with someone outside his group of people. A relationship outside of Carl. A relationship that involved sex. He would embarrass himself the first time, if not the first few times.

It would be different than being married to Lori. Any woman he got involved with knew what it was like if they were living. No bills to pay and no job to not talk about. Just living, working, killing walkers and doing runs. Someone he could grow old with and not be alone. Carl was going to get in a relationship with someone and maybe leave, though the thought made Rick sad. Happy, too, though because Carl would have someone, maybe have kids. Which brought him back to talking about sex with Carl. Something he didn't want to do. He was going to have to do it soon. Carl was fourteen and if he met other kids (girls) at the meet and greet and he was interested in one.

"You okay, Rick?" Glenn nudged his shoulder bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah. Just thinking about the meet and greet," he replied as he stood inside the furniture store, machete in hand, while Sasha and Abraham took apart the bed frame they decided on. Maggie was walking around looking at more furniture, why he didn't know.

"We're excited," Glenn smiled at him.

"Me too," he grinned back. He really was.

* * *

Aaron jotted his name on the 'to go' list of the 'meet and greet'. Aside from Maria and Esteban, Dave, Hector and Patricia, an older resident, decided to stay behind. He would have been worried about Pat, but he'd seen her kill walkers. It was only for a few hours and nothing happened up here.

He wondered what it would be like meeting all of those people, if they decided to go.

"I'm looking forward to this," Jesus commented from behind him.

Aaron turned with a smile on his face. "Me, too. I hope the other communities will show up."

He scoffed. "Why wouldn't they? I'm sure the newness of it will be enough to get them to go."

Aaron leaned against the counter. "Yeah, it's boring. I can live with boring."

Jesus grinned. "I can, too. Although doing a patrol sounds good."

"Not for me. At least not yet."

"You don't have to, Aaron," Jesus reminded him.

"I know. I just need more time."

"It's up to you, but time won't stop. I'm taking Abraham's place the next patrol."

"Why?"

"Give him and Sasha a honeymoon," he grinned again.

* * *

Jesus had approached Ash while Rick and the rest, minus Aaron, had gone to get Abraham and Sasha a new bed. He should have told them to get one while they were out last time. As a gift to them, because it was finally happening and it was good to see life go on, he volunteered to go. He hoped Rand went this time. It'd be a chance to put in a word to send more people farther out. There were more communities out there, they just needed to find them. Better to find them than they find Crazy Ass. People finding them didn't work out so well for Hilltop or the Kingdom.

He nodded to one of the little girls, Lacy, as he passed through the living room and outside to sit on the porch. He liked it up here. It was quiet, for the most part, peaceful and pretty. He'd frozen his ass off the past winter, but it didn't stop him from participating in a few snowball fights.

He was happy Abraham and Sasha got together but it made him realize he, maybe, could find someone to get together with. Evan had been gone for years. Sex had been hit or miss with him at Hilltop. He hadn't found anyone worth getting involved with outside of 'hit it and quit it' encounters. The men he'd been with there felt the same. No one knew what the hell was going to happen. Especially after the Saviors showed up. In the beginning, while the walls were going up, no one knew who would make it and who wouldn't. It was too unsettled. After things kind of calmed down he'd been busy doing runs and scouting the area around Hilltop. Not thoroughly enough.

If he wasn't doing that he was helping in the gardens or wherever Gregory needed him to be. This. Jesus looked around at the people of Crazy Ass. This was life. He wouldn't say no to another relationship. Finding someone? That was the kicker. The meet and greet was the most promising place right now.

* * *

A/N: More fluff.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Thank you for those of you still following this story. I have another two installments to this. One is already written, just waiting for me to proof and upload after this is done, the other is basically an outline. I'm not sure if I'll ever post them. I haven't watched the show since season five and I'm conflicted if I should post or not. I feel like a fraud still writing for this fanfiction when I clearly don't have any interest in The Walking Dead any longer and sometimes I feel it shows in my writing. This forum has helped me with my writing, I think. Some of my earlier stories I wrote for myself were awful. I can see my growth as a writer, so I do appreciate all of the visitors I get to my stories.

This is more fluff with some serious at the end.

If tryingobjective is still reading, at the end of this, I have responded to your review.

* * *

Rick went to find Hannah after they got home from furniture shopping. Maggie had cleaned out the dollar store of sheets and passed them around. He'd ended up with purple flowers. He gave Carl the 'Dora the Explorer' ones. The look on his face made him laugh and promise to put more sheets on the run list next time they went out. He stomped off muttering under his breath. Rick finally found her in the barn, cleaning stalls.

He cleared his throat and she looked up with a smile. "Hi Rick."

"Hi Hannah. I was, uh, wonderin' if you would." He stopped talking and cleared his throat again. "Talk to Carl about sex. Sex education for Carl." Damn, he sounded like some country bumpkin.

She raised her eyebrows, put the shovel tip in the ground and gripped the handle. "You want me to give a sex education lesson. To your son Carl." It sounded like a question and not a statement.

"Yeah. If you would. Just. Hell. Just the mechanics of it. Please," he practically begged.

She bent over laughing. "The look," she wheezed out. "On your face," she continued. Rick could barely understand her she was laughing so hard. After a few minutes she put the shovel handle against the stall door, took off the gloves she was wearing and sat down on the stool they had stored in there. "Uh, sorry. Sure. I can give him a sex education class. Can I ask why? I mean, you don't have to tell me, but it's not like Carl's going to date anyone anytime soon."

Rick leaned against the wall near her. "I know, but this meet and greet with the communities. He'll be meeting new people. Girls," he groaned. "Maybe he might like one."

Hannah sighed. "Yeah. He might meet one he likes. Taylor. She'll be the same, if we continue to do these. The Castle may find another community, which will throw more people in the mix." The last was said almost to herself. "She'll grow up. Get involved with someone."

"Right. Carl, too."

"My kids." She shook her head and stood up again. "Sure. I'll do it before we go." She put her gloves back on and went back to work. Rick stood there for a minute, but Hannah didn't seem interested in talking anymore so he left.

* * *

"This looks good," Maggie compliment the group that was canning some of the vegetables from the garden. Her, Lisa, Maria, Dave, Tim and Brick were the canning crew this time. Tony and Ash decided everyone would learn to do this and dry food, too. She wished she would have done this at Hilltop. It was damn hard work, but looking at the jars of vegetables they'd be able to eat later or take with them to the meet and greet as their part of the potluck, it was a good feeling.

Glenn had volunteered to work with Aaron, Hector, Tony, Sasha and Abraham building a brick oven. Looking out the window she saw Hector and Sasha piling bricks on top of some concrete cinderblocks. Andrew had drawn a picture of what one could look like, Abraham and Brick seemed to think the concrete was bad, and it looked like a brick box. Not near as professional as the ones in Europe, according to Lisa. Still, if it worked, it worked and no one would complain. Especially if they could bake a lot more. She wished they could find more solar panels.

* * *

Ash and Jesus were following behind Waya and Tom as they made their way toward the Fort. Instead of Avery, a young woman by the name of Tabitha was with them. Juan sent someone by the name of O'Reilly, she didn't know if it was his first or last name and he wasn't really talking to anyone, so she guessed it didn't matter.

Tony hadn't been exaggerating. These people booked. No chit chat. Some at night, but not a lot. She knew what to expect so she wasn't as shocked as Tony had been. They'd been used to a lot of talk around dinner time. This group? Eat, say a few words about watch or leaving food, sleep then up the next day. She wasn't ashamed to admit Tony was right and she was dragging ass. It wouldn't stop her. She'd finish this damn thing if it killed her. She was out of shape.

* * *

Jesus was near the back of the patrol with Ash, Jonathan Wilmer from the Castle and O'Reilly from Blue Mountain. O'Reilly and Ash were kind of slow, but not noticeably. Hell, he was slow. Living at Crazy Ass, basically doing what needed to be done, wasn't that much of a workout apparently. The Castle people were all business. Walk, watch, break and back to walking. At night someone, usually the Castle people, passed out the food or cooked over a grill. Tabitha, call her Tab, jumped right in once. Waya, who was leading this patrol, just nodded.

Jonathan Wilmer reminded him of Eugene in a way. He'd only met Eugene a few times, he seemed like a know-it-all ass, so he didn't take time to have any sort of conversation with him. Jonathan Wilmer didn't look like Eugene. Wilmer, who was taller and had blonde hair in a bowl cut, seemed just as much of a know-it-all ass, but he could kill walkers, which was something Abraham told him Eugene didn't do. He did know a lot and wasn't shy at correcting one of them if he thought they were doing something wrong. The Castle people just rolled with it, even Waya.

When they got to Blue Mountain Juan came out and spent time talking to O'Reilly and Tom. Waya and Jonathan Wilmer took off for parts unknown. Tom, after a good portion of time, headed them back out so they could get started for the next place they were staying, which was one of the places they stayed in on the way there. The next stop was the Training Grounds and it would take them almost a week to get there. After that was Crazy Ass then back to the Castle. Jesus decided he would do this again. He had more respect for the Castle now, after doing a patrol.

"Waya and Jonathan Wilmer? Are we waiting for them?" Ash asked Tom as they were let out of the gate at Blue Mountain.

"No. They know where we'll be," he replied. Jesus raised an eyebrow at the answer but didn't bother asking anymore questions. If it was dangerous they would have taken more people. Waya was probably talking to Wilmer about not being such a know-it-all smartass. Jesus hoped.

Three days later they showed up again and Wilmer still had an attitude. Jesus wondered what it was they did, where they'd gone but wasn't asking any questions. So far the Castle played it straight with them, all the communities, and what they did wasn't any of his business. He didn't think Wilmer would be Waya's type, but you never knew these days. He could get into Waya. Tall, almost silent, hot as hell. Thinking like that brought up his sex life or lack thereof. Now he really couldn't wait for this meet and greet. Maybe he'd try and chat with the man.

The rest of the patrol wasn't much different from when they started out at the Castle. He and Ash compared notes in the car on the way back.

"Tony said I'd be dragging ass and I am," she groaned from the passenger seat.

"Yeah. They move."

"I can't believe they've all done one. My hat is off to those people," Ash complimented.

"I'm pretty impressed with what they do. Every month they're out here. I won't want to do it every month, but I'm open to doing another one."

"Me, too."

* * *

"Told you," Tony ridiculed Ash as she fell on her bed after showering.

"You did. Those people are ridiculous. Fast. The dried vegetables and fruit were 'much appreciated. Did you do it the old world way or did you use one of those machines?'" The tone of her voice told Tony she was pissed. "Some guy named Jonathan Wilmer from the Castle. The dick made no bones, it didn't matter who you were, of making smart ass comments. I really thought Waya would have decked him."

"O'Reilly? What's he like?"

"Kept to himself for the most part. Cooked a couple of times. Tabitha, 'just call me Tab'," she mocked, "did, too. Jesus and I took a turn. He'd be open to doing another one. Me, too, but not every month."

"I hear that. You play Chaucer tonight. We'll see if at least one of us wants to do one every month. While you were gone I was thinking it's not really fair? Not the word I want, but you know what I mean."

"I do know what you mean. These people are basically like cops on patrol."

"They are. But if we can't swing it, we'll do what we can," he said.

"It's a good idea. I saw the oven. Does it work?" she asked disbelievingly.

"It does. It's crude, but we're working out the kinks. Maggie's really into canning shit."

"Good. I'll do it next time."

Tony grinned. "Everyone is sending someone to this."

"I heard. It's good they are."

* * *

Sasha listened intently as Ash and Jesus had 'story time' for Crazy Ass. She was undecided if she'd do a patrol or not. Abraham said he was doing another one. Aaron even looked interested. Like Abraham said, they moved, not a lot of talking, in and out, visited everyone. When the patrol showed up here, Tony had let them inside the fence, spoke with Waya, Tom, Ash and Jesus before they left.

"We could let the patrol stay here for a night," Glenn suggested.

"Good idea, Glenn. We'll offer. They have all of their places mapped out already, but we can offer it as an option," Tony agreed.

"Where would they stay?" Hannah questioned.

"Good question. There's no way they'll stay in a tent, especially in the winter, when they have a perfectly good house," Ash speculated. She held up her hands in surrender when everyone looked at her. "I think it's a good idea, too, but let's be real. We don't have any empty rooms. Putting them in the living room is doable but not enough sofas for them to sleep on. They have a perfectly good setup in a house not far from here. Beds, blankets and they cook inside."

"Electricity?" Maria raised her hand.

"No, little grills they set up on cinder blocks."

"It is a nice setup," Jesus agreed. "It took time for them to get this going. All of the houses they stay in are like it."

"Yeah, it did take time," Tony interjected. "Another reason why I respect the hell out of them. This was well planned. We'll still make the offer. I'd like for us to contribute one person a month for the foreseeable future. I'd like to do another one. I know Abraham would. Ash?" She nodded her head yes. "Jesus?" He did, too. "Anyone else?"

Sasha nodded. "I'll try it."

After that Brick, Lisa, Andrew and a few others raised their hands.

"Good. We'll rotate. As long as you make it back here, you don't have to finish, we'll be good."

They spent the rest of the night, some laughing at Ash's impressions, mostly discussing future patrols. She saw Abraham approach Jesus and slap him on the back. Jesus rolled his eyes, said a few words before he and Aaron left. She watched and wondered if they were going to be the next of their old group to get together. Sasha kind of hoped they did. It was nice having someone. She could see the writing on the wall with Rick and Hannah. Carl? He was young and he might meet someone later. Later, because now they had a future.

"What were you and Jesus talking about?" Sasha asked Abraham after they took a shower together. She was putting on her night clothes, that time of the month to clue him in, when he put on his boxers and got in bed. He smiled wide, moved the sheets and held out his arm. She smiled and got in bed with him. "That time of the month," she muttered, in case he didn't get it.

"Figured. I was thanking him for the honeymoon," he smirked at her.

"Honeymoon, huh?"

"It was a good one."

She laughed. "Shut up."

* * *

"You don't want to do one, Glenn?" Maggie asked him later that night. They were sitting at their little table having a glass of wine. She felt…indulgent. It felt good.

"No, I don't. I'll do shopping trips, but no patrol. It's a great idea and I can't believe they have the whole thing planned out."

"They've had a year or so to do it, Glenn."

"They have. It's good they do it, but I'd rather come home right away. Shopping trips don't take long, we rarely have any problems with walkers and we haven't seen any people. It's what I like. Do you want to do one?"

She shook her head. "I like bein' here. Shopping is fine, but I like this," she waved her hand to encompass the room and the wine. "Us. Sitting here, safe with our people."

He leaned over and kissed her. When he drew back there was a soft smile on his face. "We're safe with our people."

* * *

Carl left Hannah's room red in the face. He couldn't believe he had to sit through a sex education lesson. She said she was going to tell all the kids when they reached his age. It had been gross. He couldn't imagine doing that to a girl. He didn't want to think that's how Judith had been made. His mom and Shane. Gross. His mom and his dad? Gross. Just gross. He knew his mom and Shane, he shuddered. Now he really knew. Gross.

"Carl?" his dad frowned as he neared their rooms. "You alright?"

"Don't wanna talk about it," he mumbled and slammed the door to his room, throwing himself on the bed. He wasn't surprised when he heard a knock and another 'Carl?'

"What?"

"Are you okay? Did somethang happen?"

He rolled his eyes. His dad wouldn't stop bugging him, he knew. He sighed heavily. "You can come in, Dad," he invited.

His dad opened the door and peaked his head inside. "You okay?"

"No," he huffed. "I had a sex education lesson today." He shuddered again. His dad got a weird look on his face.

"Can I come in?"

Carl narrowed his eyes. "I said you could," he replied.

His dad came in and sat on the side of his bed. Carl sat up and leaned against the headboard. He thought it was weird his dad ran his hand over his hair, like he was trying to get rid of 'hat hair' Glenn teased him about. His dad wore a baseball cap after they got here and they were working.

"Yeah. About that." He cleared his throat. "I, uh, asked Hannah to talk to you about sex."

"What?" he sat up and shouted.

"Look, Carl, you're fourteen now."

"I know. We celebrated my birthday," Carl cut him off.

"Right. You're fourteen. I would have talked to you about this, I don't know, when you were sixteen, I guess. Before this happened. My dad talked to me about sex after a sex ed class." His dad coughed. "I. This isn't like before. This world, it's different from when I grew up. We're going to this meet and greet and you may meet a girl there. One you like. Like you did Enid."

"Dad," he whined. "We didn't even kiss. I liked her because she wasn't stupid like the Alexandrians were when we got there."

"Now, Carl, they weren't stupid."

"You thought so," he interrupted harshly.

His dad closed his eyes.

* * *

When Rick opened his eyes he saw his son sitting there with a mulish look on his face. Shit. "Alright. I did. When we got there, Carl, I…was having some problems."

"You mean you were crazy."

"Not crazy, so much as angry." He shook his head. "We'll talk about that later. Right now, we're talking about sex. And the future. Your future. This is a good place and part of growing up is being interested in girls. You will, I hope, find a nice girl, settle down and have kids. I'd like it if you would wait until you're eighteen, but," he let out a breath. "I can't count on that. I was interested in girls when I was sixteen."

"Eww, Dad," Carl whined again.

Rick smiled a little. "Dating. It could be fun. I remember when me and your mom were dating, we did some fun thangs. Not just going to the movies." He paused. "You can't do that now. There's no mini golf, no movies, no hanging out, no going out to a restaurant for a nice dinner, no concerts. There's working, killing walkers and."

"Sitting on your ass." He rolled his eyes.

"Carl," Rick admonished. "We don't sit on our asses all the time. We have down time, yeah. We had fun this winter with the snowball fights, didn't we?"

He grinned. "We did. Throwing baseballs."

"Right. We do other thangs. Read. Put together puzzles. What I'm trying to say, Carl, is this is life now. Part of life is having babies. I, uh, wanted you to be prepared, I guess. For when you do find a nice girl and want to settle down."

"I don't want to end up like you and mom," he admitted after a few minutes.

"That's different, Carl. Me and your mom. We were having problems before this started."

"Would you and mom have gotten a divorce?"

Rick sighed. "Uh, I don't know, Carl. Maybe. Me getting shot. It was probably hard on your mother."

"She cried, you know."

"Hm. I'm sad to hear that. I loved your mom."

"Her and Shane?" he whispered.

"Well, I forgave her. Kind of. I was disappointed, but she didn't know. Shane."

"He was an asshole," Carl snapped.

"He could be. This? This changed a lot of people. Not for the better. I was mad at her, too. Hurt." He shook his head. "Anyway, I want you to know how babies are made. Babies?" he smiled again as he remembered when Carl first started walking. "Babies are special. But you should only have a baby with someone you love, not just someone you're intimate with."

"What kind of problems? You and mom?" he asked after another few silent minutes.

"Lori? She didn't think I talked to her enough. She was right. I didn't want to talk about work. It was work. Sometimes it was dangerous and I didn't want her to know how dangerous."

"You got shot. You were in a coma," Carl enunciated.

"I was. It wasn't just that. Sometimes your mom blew thangs out of proportion. That was before. Now? Well, we can't count on living until we're old like your grandpa, so my only advice to you is talk to your girl. You won't have to fight about bills or money, but you will argue about thangs. People argue, it's a fact of life."

"I…liked Enid," Carl admitted in a whisper.

He wasn't sure what to say. "She seemed like a nice girl."

"Do you like Hannah?" he surprised Rick with the question.

"I like her. She seems like a nice lady."

Carl rolled his eyes. "Do you like her enough for…" he trailed off with a disgusted look on his face, making Rick chuckle.

"Carl, relationships are complicated. When you have sex I'd like for you to like the person you're with. I'd like for you to have babies with someone you love." He paused as he considered how he was going to say this. "You'll understand when you get older, but sex, it's natural. You'll want to have sex and, like I said, I hope it's with someone you like. That's okay."

"So you are?" he screeched.

"I didn't say that. I don't know if Hannah likes me enough. You have to be sure the girl likes you, too. You can't force her. That's rape."

Carl fidgeted with the blanket on his bed. "Anything else, Dad?"

"No, Carl. Unless you want to talk about somethang?"

"I'm fine," he rushed out.

"You can talk to me about anythang, Carl. You're my son and I love you. I want what's best for you."

* * *

Carl stared at his dad before deciding to go for it. "Did you like Michonne?"

He wanted to laugh when his dad's mouth fell open. "I liked Michonne."

"Enough to…" He didn't want to say the _'s'_ word again. It was still gross thinking about his dad doing _that_.

"Hm. Maybe. If she liked me."

"Do you like her better than Hannah?"

"I respected Michonne a lot. It's hard to explain, Carl. You can like people more than one way. I like and respect Hannah. Enough to."

"Stop," he demanded.

"Right. The same with Michonne. Maybe more than Hannah, but she's not here. If she's still alive, I think she is, she wouldn't like me. Not after Alexandria. That's a story for another day. You alright now?"

Carl could tell his dad was done talking about this. He was done listening about this. "Why?"

"Why what?" His dad frowned.

"Why'd you tell me this stuff?"

His dad sighed. "Your mom, she was right sometimes. I need to talk about thangs. Thangs that involve your life to help you make good decisions. Anythang else you want to ask?"

"Thanks, Dad, but I think I'll wait awhile."

"Okay, Carl, but know you can always talk to me. I may not say what you want to hear or thangs that are uncomfortable for us, but I'll try and tell you the truth. Even if it's ugly."

Carl sat up and hugged him. "I love you, Dad," he said.

His dad hugged him back. "I love you, too, Carl. So much."

* * *

 **Response to review. If you're not interested you can stop reading now.**

Thank you for following my stories. I am not a Richonne fan, I'm a Dixonne fan, but if you're reading this I thank you for taking the time to do so.

The attitude from Rick, Glenn, Maggie and Sasha are mostly from being unreliable narrators. In my story, in the background, they've gone through Deanna, the Alexandrians, the Wolves and the Saviors, so that trauma is at the forefront, while the way they treated Daryl and Michonne isn't. It's been over a year. Rick and co. still don't know Michonne and Daryl are alive, so they really haven't been confronted with their actions. People tend to look at their actions in a much better light in past events. It's their point of view. Michonne and Daryl, obviously, have different viewpoints.

I'm not trying to marginalize Michonne at all, but this story is more about Rick and his people, so they'll take the limelight for the most part.

Sasha - unreliable narrator. I'm basing her attitude of Michonne being snooty on the scene from the show when Sasha was out shooting walkers, snarling at Michonne and Rosita she didn't need any help. That didn't happen in this story, but Michonne left and Sasha stayed and went through a lot. In the prison Michonne was closed off from most of them, including Sasha, so this plays into her biases regarding Michonne.

Carl doesn't know Rick kicked them out. Rick told Carl they left, but not why. I think I had Carl internal monologuing in the beginning about it, but he doesn't have all of the facts.

Aaron - Yes, Michonne did save him from Rick, but she left. He, like everyone else, has gone through a lot, so that interaction probably slipped his mind with all of the other things that went on.

Rick - I'm biased in that I never liked Rick on the show. I hate the thick country accent. He suffered as well, if not more, because all of the experiences Alexandria had gone through when he was in charge. Crazy Ass is allowing them to deal with everything, but only on one side, their side. Maybe when they all meet up Rick will see the other side. Maybe not. Maybe he'll still be an asshole. I'm not sure. I had plans for more. See A/N above for them being written and posted.

I don't think they're growing at all, but living right now. They're sheltered and they need it. In the future? Who knows. See A/N above for them being written and posted.

I hope I've responded to all of your points. I appreciate you took time to write one.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Thanks to anyone still reading this. Heavy chapter with lots of...surprises?

* * *

Only two weeks left until the meet and greet and Crazy Ass was antsy. Glenn was antsy. Ash sent Lisa and Hannah down find out what the Castle was planning so they could send someone down to help. When they got back, Tony thought using the gas was worth it, they relayed the ballroom was where everyone was meeting and The Fort had already sent people to help clean it. Lisa did say that if they found any sternos, Glenn had no idea what they were, and pans it would be appreciated.

Tony sent him and Andrew off to find some. They hit the jackpot in Edinburg and cleaned the restaurant supply store out of everything. Maggie was helping Ash decide what to bring and how they were going to transport everything which had him, Maggie, Lisa and Ash shopping to find containers. They were bringing chicken pot pies, ten of them, bread and ten blueberry cobblers. Since all the communities were sending most of their people and the Castle was near, they'd have enough. Maggie was worried they wouldn't. She said so. A lot.

Three days before everyone was set to leave Glenn was ready to explode. He didn't know if he could take it anymore. Clothes were a priority, everyone was trying to find something somewhat nice to wear. That included shoes and jewelry. A few of the older ladies had asked for hair dye and he rolled his eyes. He didn't know what the hell everyone was losing their minds over. Yeah, it was exciting all the communities were getting together, but shit, this was insane. He couldn't wait until this was over.

The day of, finally, most of Crazy Ass was jammed into three minivans and on the road to Bridgewater early. It didn't take them long to get there and he sighed with relief when he saw a few more cars in the parking lot. He felt like he was going to his grandparent's house. Or was an extra in some movie. The fence was set up, spikes and all. It looked like the Castle fence.

"Shit," Lisa muttered. "Jess wasn't lying."

"Told you," she gloated. "Porcupine families."

The gate swung open and a young black kid raised his eyebrows. "That place up by Willow Grove, right?"

"The Bunker," Ash countered.

"Crazy Ass," Tony replied at the same time.

"Huh. Okay. We have lockers for your guns, if you would please put them in there, keys are in them. Rand has everything set up by communities. Come on in," he waved. Glenn noted he had on a blue armband. Checking to make sure his purple armband was on he took Maggie's hand, smiled and followed Tony and Ash.

* * *

Aaron's eyes widened as he walked into the ballroom after putting up his gun. The guy at the gate didn't let him take off his machete, just his gun. Sticking the key in his pocket he almost ran into Sasha and Abraham as they stood just inside the door. When he finally made it inside he saw tables everywhere. There were two long tables near the center of room close to a vacant section.

Ash, Maggie, Jesus, Tony and Jess put the food on those, while the rest of Crazy Ass just stood around. It was a nice set up. It reminded him of banquets or weddings he'd attended. There were lots of round tables with six or eight chairs at each table in each section. The Castle was in the front. The Fort and the red armbands were next to them on the left. Blue Mountain and the green armbands were on the other side. The Training Grounds, yellow armbands, near The Fort, which left Crazy Ass on the other side of Blue Mountain and near the Training Grounds. He noticed a little stage set up behind the Castle's tables.

* * *

"This is stupid," Daryl moaned as he waited for his 'cue' to come out. 'Chonne nudged him and he frowned. "Even Rand thinks it's stupid, 'Chonne," he reminded her.

"She does, but she understands it needs to be somewhat formal."

"That don't even sound believable, you know."

"She's right though, Daryl," Waya interjected. "If the Castle is going to head this little conglomeration of communities we need to be somewhat formal."

He grunted.

* * *

She looked through the back door into the ballroom and sighed. She hated this shit, but it was necessary. When it looked like everyone was either sitting down or standing around in their section she led her advisors and 'knights' to the front of the room and cleared her throat. When it was quiet she, surrounded by Adrian, Waya and Seth, stepped forward.

"Hello. Big turnout. Good. Just some formalities and we'll get on with the food frenzy. I'll introduce the Castle. If the rest of the leaders would do the same with your seconds or lieutenants or right hands or advisors or what have you, we can get down to business. I'm Rand and I run the Castle. My 'knights'. Adrian," she pointed to him. "Behind me is Waya. To my right is Seth. My advisors, Daryl and Michonne," she pointed to them, off to the right a little.

"I'm sure most of you recognize most of the Castle residents," she pointed to her people. "You'll be able to talk with them later. Robert," she nodded at him.

* * *

Rick was stunned. He could see Carl's mouth fall open and he started to say somethang. "Not now," Ash hissed at him.

"We know her," he hissed back.

"Good for you. Wait," she demanded.

"What the hell?" Maggie gasped.

He heard Glenn groan, Sasha inhale and Abraham mutter 'bitch nuts'. Tony turned and glared at all of them. "Quiet," he whispered harshly.

* * *

Aaron stared open mouthed at the sight of Daryl and Michonne standing near the Castle people.

"You know them?" Jesus asked quietly.

"Daryl and Michonne," he answered.

"From Alexandria?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Enough," Ash hissed again.

* * *

Rick barely paid attention as the other leaders introduced themselves and their right hands. He absently noted that Rand did look a little scary surrounded by her knights and they all had swords. He noticed Daryl had his crossbow across his back and Michonne, like Daryl, had her katana on her back. They looked like they meant business when Michonne moved to stand by Rand while the men shifted and Daryl stood at the end.

"Dad," Carl whispered.

"Shit." Sasha gasped.

"Guess we know where they went," Abraham grunted.

* * *

"And your group?" Rand pointed to them.

"I'm Tony. My sister, Ash. We run Crazy Ass," he introduced them.

"The Bunker," Ash interjected.

She felt Michonne stiffen beside her.

"Okay," she drawled. "Let us know when you've decided what to call yourselves. Moving on. We're here to foster better relations between the communities. The help we've received with the patrols is greatly appreciated as is the food that is being contributed. The volunteers we've had are a boon to what we're trying to do, which is stay alive. Trading is off to a bit of a rough start so I'm hoping this idea of Tony and Ash's pans out. If not, we've lost nothing but a day. And maybe gained some new acquaintances at the very least. I'm done unless someone else wants to say something?"

"I would," Robert addressed them. "This was a good idea. Rand, when I met you and the 'knights'," he snickered. "I wasn't sure whether you were talking out your ass or not when you first offered to send information my way in case of asshole sightings. Not quite a week later two of your knights showed up with information about an attack on The Castle. I'm glad it's still standing and my community is looking forward to strengthening ties between all of us."

"It is a good idea," Linda nodded in their direction. "I'd also like to thank The Castle for trading and the patrol. We'll send someone next time out."

"I would like to thank The Castle, too," Juan stated. "O'Reilly is impressed by the amount of ground you cover. We appreciate the trading we've done with The Fort. You can count on Blue Mountain for one person for patrol."

Rand waited a few minutes. "If that's it, let's eat."

* * *

Carl ran over to Michonne and Daryl after Rand said they could eat. "Michonne," he shouted and stopped in front of her with a smile on his face. "I knew you were alive." He hugged her tight.

"Carl,"

"Daryl, you, too. We figured if anyone would make it, it would be you two," he laughed as he pulled away. "You've been here? All this time?" he continued. "Why didn't you come back and get us?"

* * *

Daryl gripped his crossbow strap tight and noticed the Four moved to stand around him and Michonne. Right now he was happy they looked kinda scary. He saw Rick, Maggie, Glenn, Sasha, Abraham, Aaron and some other guy headed in their direction.

"Rick. The hell you doin' here?" he ground out when Rick made it near Carl.

* * *

Rick reached over and grabbed Daryl in a hug. He felt like crying. "It's good to see you, brother," he said. He pulled back, a smile on his face, and noticed Michonne standing stiffly beside him, glaring at Sasha. Daryl didn't look happy to see him.

"We lost Alexandria," Carl interrupted. "Why didn't you come back and get us?" he yelled again.

"You're going to continue this in the back," Rand interrupted quietly. "There's a door behind me that leads to the hall. You got this?" she asked him.

"We have it," Michonne answered in a harsh voice.

"This way," Adrian instructed as him and 'Chonne followed him through the door. When they made it to the hall he stepped back and leaned against a wall.

"We got this, Adrian," he told the man.

"I'm sure you do, Daryl. You and Michonne are formidable in your own right," he acknowledged but didn't move.

* * *

After they reached the hall, Glenn grabbed Daryl in a hug. "It's so good to see you," he said before turning in Michonne's direction. "Both of you."

"Glenn," Michonne responded evenly.

"Why didn't you come get us?" Carl repeated loudly. "We could have been living with you. In a castle. We lost Judith. We lost Alexandria. We lost Carol. We lost," he ended in a teary yell.

"I tried. Sasha shot at me. Your dad told me he didn't trust me no more, Carl," Daryl replied as he glared at Rick. "Your dad and Sasha threatened to kill me. I left."

Rick, he noticed, pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I'm sorry. That was wrong of me to do. I, uh, don't have an excuse. It was. After everythang that happened, I was."

"Sorry. For shooting at you," Sasha scoffed.

"Whatever, Sasha," Daryl sneered.

"Hey," he raised his voice and stood between Daryl and Sasha. "Shit happened. Let's not do this. Please. This is a nice thing that's going on here."

"Glenn's right," Maggie stepped up beside him. "This is a good thing. We're happy you're alive."

Glenn almost staggered at the look Michonne sent her way. Maggie noticed and took a small step back.

"Daryl," Aaron took a step toward him, hand out. "It's good to see you."

"Aaron." Daryl shook. Glenn had never been so happy for Aaron until that moment. He didn't know what would happen if they ever saw Daryl and Michonne again, but this wasn't what he was expecting.

"Now that the touching reunion is over," Adrian interrupted sarcastically, Glenn had forgotten all about him standing there. "Perhaps we should step back inside."

Rick cleared his throat and both him and Carl looked like they were going to cry. "I, uh, I'm sorry, Daryl. Michonne. This, well, we weren't expecting to see you. Here. With the Castle. Is this where you came after you left?" he directed the question to Michonne. She nodded once.

"Right," Glenn breathed out. "Look. Rick fucked up. We all fucked up. We all lost. Can we sit down, like adults, please? Can't we be happy most of us made it back together?" he pleaded.

Adrian started speaking another language. Michonne answered back and his mouth dropped open. She and Daryl shared a look and she talked to him in that language. He shrugged his shoulders. "Guess," he grunted.

"You know another language?" Maggie gaped at him.

"Gotta problem?" Daryl challenged her.

"Hi, I'm Jesus. Or Paul," Jesus grinned at Adrian. "Was that French?"

"Da," Adrian smirked.

"Shit. Russian, too?" his head swiveled between the three of them.

"Understand some," Daryl grudgingly admitted. Michonne stayed silent and stared at him.

Adrian said something else before leaving.

"There's another room with a table we can use. We can eat in there, if you like," Michonne offered coolly.

"Please. That'd be great," he smiled.

* * *

Maggie hoped this would go well. She went over to Tony and Ash and quietly told them they knew Michonne and Daryl and they were going to eat in a different room. Ash informed her she wanted the details later and to not fuck this up. She frowned and headed to the other community food tables. Everything looked good. She took a hamburger from The Castle's table with some potato salad. She took regular salad from The Fort's table with a piece of baked chicken. From The Training Grounds she took some sliced apples and from Blue Mountain she took some of the green bean salad.

When her plate was full she saw Michonne and Daryl surrounded by Rand and the knights and decided Glenn was right. Rand didn't look friendly at all. Her and Michonne were standing close and Rand looked at them as Michonne talked. After a few minutes the woman shrugged a shoulder and said something back. Daryl rolled his eyes and took his plate, waiting for Michonne.

"It's a good thing we had to leave the guns," Glenn muttered beside her.

"Yeah."

* * *

Sasha filled her plate, there was a lot of food, and waited on Abraham. She was getting angry. It worked out for Michonne. Again. Damn Rick.

"You alright?" Abraham asked from beside her.

"Yeah."

"You sure? You need me to kick Daryl's ass?"

She shook her head. "No. He's right to be pissed. I did shoot at him."

"But you didn't hit him."

"Rick wanted him to leave. If he didn't? Then I could kill him." She sagged a little before looking at him. "That was."

"It was, Sash," he tried to console her. "It just was. Can't change it."

"Right. We can't change it." They followed Maggie out the door of the ballroom. "You're right. He would have killed them all."

* * *

Michonne sat her plate on the table and waited for the others. Daryl sat at her right with a frown on his face. She agreed. What the hell? Judith was gone? Carol? Alexandria? When Carl walked in he sat at her left. "Hamburgers?" he looked at her.

"We have cows," she told him.

"You have cows. It's where you got the cheese from, right?" Maggie asked with a tremulous smile.

"Right."

Her smile dropped and she started eating. Rick looked sick and like he wanted to cry. He sat down across from them. Maggie to his right, Glenn to her right. Sasha sat next to Rick, across the table and concentrated on her plate. Abraham sat next to her, Aaron then the other man next to him, leaving Glenn next to Daryl. Smarter that way.

She almost rolled her eyes when Rick cleared his throat. "I'm sorry about what happened. When I had Sasha shoot at you and I threatened to kill you. I was in a bad way when we got there."

"You, Carol and Daryl were going to take over," she stated. Rick jerked his head back. "I figured it out. Carol is a bad liar. I didn't believe that bullshit for a minute, Rick. You would have killed Deanna. The rest of them. It was their place. They could do whatever the hell they wanted."

"Alright, yes, we were gonna take over," he admitted. "Like I said, I was in a bad place when we got there."

"And we weren't?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Okay. I get you're surprised, not in a good way, we're here. You're mad. I get it. I'd like to, maybe, mend some fences, Michonne."

"'Chonne," Daryl said.

She settled down and pushed her food around.

"You're right again. It was their place and they could do whatever the hell they wanted. We had no right thinking that way. It was wrong. I'm sorry."

"How'd you find the Castle? Linda said it was supposed to be a theme park?" Paul questioned. "Good burgers."

"Bradford grilled 'em," Daryl muttered.

* * *

Glenn thought the burgers were good. Maybe because he hadn't had a burger in years. "The brochures," he told Jesus. "Was there one for The Castle in what you dumped outside of Alexandria?" he looked at Daryl.

"Nah. 'Chonne took that one. When I came back I had different ones. Ski resorts, Assateague Island, Luray Caverns and a few others," Daryl responded.

"So you stayed in a hotel?" Aaron inquired.

"After I left Alexandria," Michonne replied.

"Went to the Castle. Rand showed up. I left. Came back. Been here ever since." Daryl shrugged.

* * *

"Is it a real castle?" Carl asked.

"Rand thinks it's a few put together," Daryl said.

"Cool. Is there a drawbridge?"

"Yes. Battlements."

"Is that the sidewalk thing?" Glenn looked up from his plate.

"It's part of it. You were there?" Daryl narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah, when Tony and Ash came for the meeting. Didn't Rand tell you?"

"She said the leaders of the communities brought some of their people," he grunted. "Some guy named Glen was with that place up by Willow Grove. Jess, too. Linda brought Brock, me and 'Chonne know him, don't know Cindy. Never met Juan, Miguel, Robert or Pauline. Didn't think it was you, Glenn. We gotta guy named Glen that lives at the Castle."

"Yeah. I'm surprised I didn't see you."

Michonne snorted. "It's a big place, Glenn."

"So you came here and stayed with Rand?" Maggie asked.

"Yeah."

"You know French?" she tried again.

"Rand thought it would be a good idea if we learned other languages. The Four know a few so they taught us. We taught all of our people that wanted to learn," Michonne answered.

"That's…a good idea," Aaron piped up.

"It's useful," Michonne responded.

"Had to use 'em a coupla times when we started patrol," Daryl added.

* * *

"'The Four?" Sasha interjected.

"Rand, Adrian, Waya and Seth," Michonne glared at her.

"Like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?" Jesus jokingly asked.

"Somethin' like that," Daryl retorted.

"Really?" Glenn almost squeaked. "They look it."

Michonne smiled a little which shocked Sasha. She couldn't recall the woman ever smiling before.

"Said li'l ass kicker's dead?"

* * *

Rick closed his eyes briefly. "Yeah. I told you I killed Pete after he killed Spencer. Deanna, she was a wreck. She stepped down and I started running Alexandria. I had everyone learn to use a gun. We wore knives or somethang to protect ourselves. A group of people, Morgan had a run in with a few of them, before you and Aaron found him, Daryl. They called themselves 'Wolves'. They carved the 'W's in the foreheads of those walkers in the back of that truck by Noah's. That one by Alexandria. When Carol was trying to give you a gun." Daryl nodded. "They snuck over the wall. Jessie." He swallowed. "She was watching Judith for me. They killed her and stabbed Jessie. Killed a few Alexandrians. Reg and Deanna."

Michonne closed her eyes and looked at her plate. "I'm sorry to hear that, Rick."

* * *

Glenn sighed. "It was bad, Daryl. Really bad. Then a herd showed up. We don't know where the hell they came from."

"Coulda come from anywhere, Glenn," Daryl countered.

"They did some damage to Alexandria. A few more Alexandrians died. Jessie Anderson and her kids."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Michonne told Rick again.

"We found Jesus on a run," Aaron continued. "He told us about the Saviors."

"Saviors? Those the people we got pictures of?" Daryl asked.

"Yes," Maggie jumped in. "Andrew, one of our people, was an artist. He drew them. Tony said they'd be sent to the other communities."

"Why didn't you ask?" Abraham finally said something. "Rick told Tony they burned everyone out."

Michonne raised an eyebrow. "Why would we? We were told it happened east of here. Not Alexandria."

"Didn't know about them other places anyway," Daryl retorted. "Only knew about Alexandria. What the hell would we have done? Y'all were here by then."

"So you didn't bother?" Sasha raised her voice.

"Why would we?" Michonne repeated. "We have a place. I knew Rick would do anything," she stressed the word, "to protect his kids. I mean anything, Sasha. Killing people. He's done it before. He was willing to slaughter more."

"Okay. Look. I fucked up," Rick said angrily. "My fuck up cost me Judith. I'm not proud of what I did." He wiped his eyes. "We shouldn't have done that. We should have left. But that's not what happened."

"Ah," Jesus stuttered. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

"No," Glenn raised his voice. "We need to finish this. Get it behind us."

"You're dreaming," Sasha scathingly retorted. "They're still pissed."

"About shooting at Daryl, yes. I don't think I'll get over that anytime soon." Michonne leaned forward, fork pointed at Sasha. "As for the rest of it? We haven't seen you in over two years, Sasha. Frankly, you're not that important to us anymore so, no, we're not pissed. At one time? Yes. I would have done a helluva lot for this group, Rick included, but I washed my hands of you when I left. It's sad what happened to Judith, Carol, Alexandria and those other places. It's one of the reasons why Rand started a patrol. So we can watch out for each other but we don't have to be friends to do it."


	17. Chapter 17

**Thank you for reading and reviewing**

* * *

Sasha fell against the back of her chair in shock. Maggie gasped.

"Really?" Carl warbled out.

She watched while Michonne looked at him. "You're important to me, Carl. And Daryl. We missed you and your sister. A lot in the beginning, but I couldn't stay there. Not with your dad and Carol. Then we were setting up The Castle, doing runs, trying to find other communities. Living."

"Carol?" Daryl looked at Glenn.

"Ah, Maggie was with Carol and they ran into some people. They turned out to be Saviors. She, uh, she left. We didn't know where she went. Me and Maggie left for Hilltop. She and Morgan came back around the time we found out who the Saviors were. We got into a gun battle. Carol went back to The Kingdom."

"Someone attacked Alexandria. The place was on fire," Rick continued in a low voice. "We went to Hilltop for help."

"Hilltop was the same," Maggie whispered.

"We went to The Kingdom," Abraham said. "They were, too. I saw Carol and put her down," he told Daryl. "You got something to say?" he challenged.

"Whatever, Abraham." Daryl rolled his eyes.

* * *

"Eric?" Daryl asked Aaron.

He cleared his throat. "Negan. Hit him in the head with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. He called it 'Lucille'. We were taking Maggie to Hilltop, they had a doctor, and were stopped. He killed Nicholas, too."

"That Aiden's buddy?"

"Yes."

"He was an asshole. Bad way to go." Daryl nodded. "Sorry. Kinda liked Eric."

He laughed sadly. "He liked you, too."

"I'm sorry about Eric, too, Aaron," Michonne added.

"Thank you."

* * *

"Rosita, Tara, Eugene, Father Gabriel?" Michonne asked Glenn.

"Eugene. He went with the Saviors," he snarled. "Asshole. Negan found out he could make bullets. Made him a better offer."

"Rosita died in the gun battle with the Saviors," Maggie stated, tears falling. "Father Gabriel and Tara? We don't know. After," she cleared her throat. "We didn't know where to look. We were shocked. It was," she drew in a shaky breath. "It was bad. Walkers were everywhere. We needed to find a place that was safe. We headed to West Springfield and stayed in a hotel. Glenn found some brochures. We picked one. It wasn't where we ended up but we found Crazy Ass instead. We've been there for a year." She wiped the tears from her cheeks. "It's not just Rick that needs to apologize, Michonne. We do, too. We went along with Rick. You and Daryl were, are, an important part of our group. We depended on each other. We stopped when we got there. I'm sorry."

* * *

Daryl looked at 'Chonne. She shrugged. She was right. Most of them people weren't important anymore. Carol. When they heard what happened 'Chonne rested her knee next to him. It hurt. He couldn't believe it. She'd been with the group since Atlanta. Li'l ass kicker. Like 'Chonne, he'd've thought Rick woulda done anything for his kids.

The knock on the door seemed loud. Jenny poked her head in, sized up the people at the table then told them Jasper was hungry. In Cherokee. He could see everyone was staring at her and him. When Rand first said they should learn other languages he'd ignored it. He spent a lot of time with Waya and learned because he spoke it. After a while he'd picked up some. It did work out when they first started patrol. He didn't speak 'em that good, not like 'Chonne did, but he did try.

"These people are okay, Jenny. You can bring him in here." Michonne smiled at the girl.

"Auh," he said.

Rick looked shocked. So did Glenn and Maggie. Carl was lookin' at Jenny. The girl frowned but left. A few minutes later Tsula came in with Jasper on her hip. When his son saw his momma he screeched 'Mama'.

"Y'all turn around now," he directed. "'Chonne's gotta feed Jasper."

"Jasper?" Rick goggled.

"Me and 'Chonne's son, Rick. Don't do bottles. Sometimes he needs milk. From 'Chonne. Now turn ya damn head." His hillbilly came out when he was angry.

* * *

Rick's mouth fell open. Glenn was choking. Maggie drew in a loud breath. Sasha and Abraham were wide eyed. Aaron smiled a little and Jesus looked confused. He couldn't believe Daryl and Michonne had a child. A son.

"You and Daryl have a kid?" Carl asked. His back was turned like everyone else. He sounded…sad.

"Yes, Carl. We have a son. It was part of the living we were doing," Michonne answered.

"His name's Jasper, Carl," Daryl corrected. Rick could tell he was proud.

"Who was that girl, Jenny?" he asked a different question.

"She's Rand's daughter."

"She has a teenager?" Glenn asked. "She doesn't look old enough."

"Rand's not her biological mother, Glenn," Michonne interrupted.

Rick sat in silence with the others as they listened to Daryl talk to his son. Michonne laughed a few times then he heard them kissing. It made him hunch his shoulders a little. It seemed like forever before Daryl told them they could turn around. When he did, he saw Daryl holding Jasper in front of his face and Jasper was babbling. Daryl was rubbing his nose in Jasper's stomach, making the boy laugh. "Adoda," he yelled in a high pitched voice.

"Daryl," Michonne nudged him.

Daryl looked at the group around the table. "I'm sorry about li'l ass kicker, Rick. Know you loved her a lot. I guess I kinda get what you wanted to do, but." He shrugged. "Carol," he closed his eyes. "Shit."

* * *

Abraham sat and watched Daryl hold his son. He'd never spent a lot of time with Daryl, but he wasn't surprised he was alive. He thought the man was trailer park trash. Rick's enforcer. He'd heard the man could hunt. He'd never been impressed with the guy. He was done with this bullshit. Nothing changed. Shit happened.

He stood up with his plate. "I'm going for dessert. Sash?"

She lifted her eyes to him and wanted to punch Michonne in the face. He didn't doubt the she'd punch him back. Sasha still looked…hurt by what the woman had said. "Sure," she stood, too, glared at Daryl and Michonne before she headed for the door and slammed it on her way out.

* * *

Maggie winced as the door slammed shut. "Uh." She stuttered to a stop. What could she say? It hurt Maggie too when Michonne said they weren't that important to them anymore. They weren't friends. Michonne and Daryl, she'd worried about them. Not right after they were gone, but later, when she got her head on straight. Her and Glenn talked about them occasionally. She'd missed them. She thought they'd been friends at the prison.

"We should all go back." Michonne stood up and waited while Daryl handed over their son, she couldn't believe her and Daryl had a kid, as he grabbed their plates.

"Wait," Glenn blurted. "Uh, is that it?"

"Is there something else, Glenn? You know we're fine. We know you're fine," Michonne replied.

"Can I come visit?" Carl looked at her.

Michonne ghosted a smile and tugged on his hat. "You know where we are. If it's okay with Tony and Ash, we really need to spend some time with them, Carl, we'll see. We need to run it by Rand."

"Stooges, too," Daryl snorted.

"The Stooges?" Carl looked at Daryl.

"Seth, Waya and Adrian," he shrugged.

Maggie watched as Michonne, Jasper, Daryl and Carl left the room. "How come you're not a knight, Daryl?" she heard Carl ask as they left.

"Am. 'Chonne, too," she heard as they went down the hall.

"That…did not go well," Glenn groaned.

* * *

"It could have gone worse," Jesus commented. "Understandably, they're surprised. Still a little pissed, it looked like, with Rick and Sasha."

"Yeah, I get it, Jesus," Rick snorted.

"Michonne was more pissed at Sasha than Rick," Aaron noted. "Not as much with Rick."

"Thank you, Aaron," Rick drawled. He looked at the floor. Maggie thought he looked like a kicked puppy. "I fucked up. I know it."

"It wasn't just you, Rick," Maggie stated. "We all could have said something to you. We didn't. It's nice we found them again. It'll take a while. It was a shock."

"They were so close," Glenn groaned. "All this time. We didn't know it."

"You know where they are now," Jesus pointed out. "Let the shock wear off. Try again. This Daryl guy seemed to relate. I don't know about Michonne."

"It took a while, when we were at the prison, after Rick told us about the deal, for her to warm up. My daddy liked her." Maggie smiled a little.

"Hershel, right? Rick told me about him," Jesus replied as he and Aaron gathered up their dishes and moved toward the door.

* * *

Rick gathered Carl's and his dishes as Glenn and Maggie took theirs and Sasha's.

"Rick?" Glenn asked.

"I'm fine, Glenn. We knew they were alive. Maggie's right. It's a shock."

"Rick." Glenn stopped and put his arm across the doorway, blocking the exit. "I know you and Daryl were good friends."

"We were," he cut Glenn off. "I fucked up."

"Maggie is right. We all fucked up. Not just you," Glenn retorted. "But we can't change what happened. We know where they are. They know where we are. We'll calm down, everyone **,** and try again. You and Daryl weren't friends at the quarry."

Rick huffed out a sad laugh. "No we weren't. I can't apologize anymore. I can't. I can't change anythang that happened and I can't dwell on it anymore. I can't let the past keep biting me in the ass. I've got Carl to think about."

"Then don't, Rick," Maggie asserted. " _We_ can't change what happened. It happened. We're livin'. We have a good place. Michonne and Daryl have a good place. It'll take a while. We'll let this settle. Maybe come visit."

He smiled at her. "Yeah. We'll come visit. Hell, they may come visit us."

"Right. They may come visit us," Glenn agreed. "We can do a patrol with them or something."

"Maybe," Maggie demurred. "Let's stick with the visiting first."

Rick left that room feeling a little better, like it wasn't his fuck up alone. He let out a breath and followed his friends, Glenn and Maggie.

* * *

Sasha was still stunned at Michonne's little speech. They weren't friends. They weren't important anymore. Abraham went to the tables and brought back some of the cobbler, a small slice, some of the fruit, blackberries and apples, and some bread. She didn't know how she missed it the first time.

"You alright?" Abraham nudged her shoulder.

She shrugged and picked at the fruit. She looked around and saw the different armbands mixing together. The Four Horsemen, ridiculous name, were with the leaders of the other communities.

"I…don't know. We assumed they were alive."

"I knew they made it. Daryl's like a cockroach," he shot back.

She laughed a little. "Yeah, I thought he was a redneck when I first met him. He helped us out at the prison a lot. He found a lot of the people we had there. Kept us fed with deer sometimes. Squirrel. He was good on runs. He never really talked to me. Michonne and Rick and Carol. I thought he liked Carol."

Abraham grunted.

"I, when we got to Alexandria, I was so pissed at Michonne. She got the white picket fence, the man and the kids. I'd lost a home, Ty and Bob. She lost a home, ended up better. She leaves, on purpose, finds a castle, gets another man and a kid."

Sasha watched Daryl and Michonne as they came in and headed for the Four. After what she could tell were introductions they, rather Michonne, moved away from the group, with her _son_ and Daryl and Rand.

"You have me." When she turned to face him he was grinning, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

She smiled and nudged his shoulder with her own. "You goof. Now I have a good home and a man, too."

"Kids?"

"Maybe one day."

* * *

Carl tried not to let Michonne and Daryl out of his sight. He was afraid they'd…leave and not come back, like last time. He'd missed them a lot. Two years and she said they weren't friends. They weren't important. When he found out Michonne left, he was angry and sad. He thought she left because he wasn't spending time with her anymore and he was spending time with his friends. His dad said she left because she wanted to, not anything he did. Then he got mad at his dad for letting her leave. It was dangerous. His dad said it was her decision and he wasn't going to make her stay. When his dad said Daryl couldn't be trusted he didn't believe it. Now he knew the truth. He didn't know anything about a takeover. He thought because Pete killed Spencer, Deanna stepped down, his dad had to started running Alexandria.

It had been better at first. He could carry a knife and a gun. Jessie Anderson didn't let Ron do it. Then the Wolves, Judith getting killed, was hard, so hard for him. He'd hated his dad, thought it was his fault, yelled that if Daryl and Michonne had been there she wouldn't have died. His dad just took it. Carl had heard his dad crying at night and felt bad. He knew it wasn't his dad's fault. Then the herd, the Saviors and Negan.

Now they found Michonne and Daryl. He couldn't believe they had a kid together. Ugh. He didn't want to think about Michonne and Daryl having sex. Gross.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned fast and put his hand on his knife. The blonde boy standing there stepped back and did the same. "Just wanted to know your name, dude. Excuse the hell out of me," he snapped and turned away.

Carl ran after him. "Wait," he shouted. The boy stopped and turned. "Sorry. I, uh, you scared me. I wasn't paying attention. I'm Carl."

The boy looked him up and down. Carl noticed his green armband. "Donny. Blue Mountain."

"Crazy Ass."

"I thought the queen lady, Rand, said you didn't make up your minds yet."

Carl grinned. "Ash likes The Bunker. I like Crazy Ass. So does Tony."

"Crazy Ass Bunker," the kid, Donny, snorted.

"Crazy Ass Bunker."

Donny nodded. "We don't have a lot of older kids."

"Us, either."

He nodded again. "Cool. Jenny, the queen lady's kid, said she set up a room for us to hang out in. I guess it has darts or something. Wanna go?"

"Sure. Let me tell my dad."

"Okay. I need to tell Daria."

"Meet back here?"

"Yep."

His dad balked and wanted to meet Donny and Daria. Carl dragged his heels until he saw Donny and a black lady waiting. She looked pretty.

"Carl?" the woman spoke and held out her hand. His dad nudged him and he shook it.

"I'm Daria. I wanted to meet you before you and Donny run off."

"Rick Grimes. Carl's my son," his dad held out his hand and they shook.

"Daria Johnson, Donny's guardian. Shall we?"

* * *

 **A/N: R.I.P. Rick Grimes issue 192**


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Thank you for continuing to read and comment. To Guest - Thank you for your comments. My headcannon for Sasha (I never saw any more of her storyline after season 5) is exactly that. She's unable to accept her part in what happened. Personally, I thought she never dealt with anything that happened after the prison, especially Ty's death. Mental health took a backseat to what was going on. In essence, I see her as being jealous. Michonne was out there, alone (as far as she knew), survived and found the prison. In Alexandria, all she saw was Michonne setting up house with Rick and Carl. Now, they meet again and Michonne has a new life. One that wasn't as awful as what she had gone through. (Pretty much everything with the Saviors and the Wolves happened, just not with Michonne and Daryl).

As far as the group forgiving themselves, they don't have any inside, outside opinions of their actions. They're basically living in a bubble.

Per another author's note: I have another work finished in this universe and yet another one in the planning stages where they all (finally) sit down and have a conversation (shouting match) regarding Alexandria and anything to do with the place. Maybe they'll even talk about Rick's stupid plan at the prison (him turning her over to the Governor). I'm not sure if I'll ever get around to writing it. Right now, I'm into Civil War: Team Iron Man on AO3 (even though I've never watched any of the movies.)

I'm glad you like Michonne and Rand's relationship dynamic. I wanted a strong (not Sasha, Maggie or Carol) woman she could be friends with. Someone she could respect.

* * *

Ash looked at their empty containers satisfied with the results, even though everyone's containers were empty. It was getting late, Demarcus, the kid that let them in, went around to all the leaders to let them know so they could plan accordingly. Finding all their people was easy, Ash had never been more grateful for the armbands, until now. A few of the kids were in the play room. It was nice Carl found other kids his own age to spend time with. Taylor and Lacy were playing Barbie dolls with Tsula and Lupe from The Castle and Rebecca from the Training Grounds.

They all groaned, except The Castle kids, when all the parents slash guardians showed up to let them know they needed to leave. She and Trish from The Fort were getting along nicely and Ash would be keeping in touch. Even if it was letters sent with the patrol. She'd kept an eye on Glenn and Maggie and when Rand didn't seem to want to use that sword she wore she wasn't worried but she would be getting details later.

The ride home was louder, if that was possible, than the ride to the hotel. Rand said she'd be getting in touch for another monthly social since this one was popular. Ash and Tony both volunteered to have someone come down early and help if needed. Tom, from The Castle, said he appreciated it and would send word, through the patrol, for volunteers. Tony traded some chicken for some lamb with Blue Mountain. She was excited. Something other than chicken or rabbit. She hadn't had lamb since New York. What she really wanted was a cow.

* * *

"You know them. The advisors," Tony started off. The ride home was long and loud. He'd had a good time, learned how some communities did things, drying food the old fashioned way for one, and learned how to maintain the septic system. Ash was right. Wilmer was an ass but he knew a lot of things.

He and most of the Crazy Ass Bunker residents, the name they'd decided on, were sprawled out in the living room and kitchen. Maggie looked at Rick.

"Yeah. They were with us for a while," Rick hedged.

"What'd we miss?" Ash raised an eyebrow.

"We lied," Glenn blurted out.

"Okay. You don't know them," Tony's statement sounded more like a question.

"We do. I tried to take over the last place we were. Alexandria," Rick admitted. "I left that out."

Ash rolled her hand.

* * *

Rick blew out a breath. "Everythang else I told you was true. Getting bombed out of the prison, Terminus, the Wolves, the Saviors." He sighed. "I…we, all of us, we had some problems when we got to Alexandria."

"No shit. Cannibals, man," Brick huffed.

"Right. Everythang. Deanna, she had blinders of what it was like. Me, Carol and Daryl."

"The badass that saved you at Terminus?" Tony questioned.

"Yeah. We decided to take over. We didn't tell Michonne. We didn't tell anyone. I got in a fight with one of the Alexandrians. Michonne, she was a constable."

"Are you shitting me? A constable? What the hell?" Lisa choked out.

"Politicians," Ash sniped.

"Michonne and I were constables. I got in a fight with one of the Alexandrians and she knocked me out. When I came to, I said we'd threaten to slit their throats if we didn't get their guns. I just wanted to scare them or somethang. Like I said," he gritted out at the hostile looks he and his people were getting. "I was having problems. I can't recall exactly what I was thinking."

"Man, that's fucking crazy," Keaton said.

"Yeah, well, I was fucking crazy. Anyway, Michonne left. She didn't tell me, I found out when I noticed her katana was missing. Daryl, he went to make sure she was okay."

"You didn't try and find her?" Andrew questioned.

"She'd been out there, by herself, for a long time," Carl cut in. "She found us at the prison. She'd been shot and she still made it there with baby food for Judith. Michonne could take care of herself."

"She sounds as badass as she looks," Tony noted. "Go on."

"Daryl came back a few days later without Michonne. I…said I couldn't trust him, he wasn't with us, he wasn't doing everythang he could to make sure we survived. I kicked him out. He went back to where Michonne was. Which we find out is The Castle." He fell against the back of the couch, tired. He was tired.

"That was a fucked up thing to do, but I would have done it," Dave's comment after a few minutes surprised him and everyone else, from the looks on their faces. He shrugged under the scrutiny. "I would have done anything to keep my wife and kid safe," he whispered.

"She said she washed her hands of us the day she left," Maggie croaked out.

"Did she say she was going to tell Rand?" Ash questioned sharply.

"I don't know, but she said what happened to Hilltop, Alexandria and The Kingdom is why Rand started the patrol. So we can lookout for each other. We don't have to be friends to do it," Maggie responded. Rick could hear the hurt in her voice. It was cruel what Michonne said. Honest but cruel.

"We fucked up." Glenn leaned against Maggie and kissed her on the forehead.

"I wasn't there, Rick, so I'm not going to tell you if you fucked up or not. That was a dick move, but this Deanna sounded like she wasn't facing reality. I, we, also, didn't go through everything you did. You and your people were pretty beaten down when you got here. You haven't caused any problems and I can't see you causing problems down the line. You try that shit here, know I will kill you. If I don't you can bet your ass Ash will," Tony said.

Ash eyed his people. "What Tony said about killing you is true. Rand strikes me as being practical. Business. As long as she doesn't get a bug up her ass about her advisors and cuts us off, I say let it lie. It's old business. In this part of the world old business is that. Old business."

"We got enough other shit worry about." Brick stated. "They don't sound too mad. They didn't kill you when they saw you. Hell, they found a good place according to Jess."

"A castle. Stone walls," Jess recited. "They found a good place."

Rick nodded to Tony in thanks.

He shrugged. "Old business."

* * *

When Michonne, Daryl and Jasper finally made their way over, Rand could tell something was wrong. As long as they were alright and this old group of theirs didn't turn out to be dicks she was fine. After introductions, Michonne moved away and she followed.

"We need to leave," she requested quietly.

Daryl was standing beside her, holding Jasper. "Be careful."

"Thanks."

* * *

Daryl hardly said a word when he got behind the wheel. Michonne put Jasper in the car seat and he sighed. He had a damn car seat. They was leavin' a party, like this was the old world. He wanted to kick Rick's ass for lettin' Carol leave. He wanted to kick Carol's ass for leaving. He wanted to kick Abraham's ass just because.

He'd been in shock seein' Rick and them standin' with that place up by Willow Grove. Like 'Chonne, Daryl knew Rick would do anything for his kids. Li'l ass kicker. Looking in the rear view mirror he saw Jasper twisting his head from one side to the other, looking out the windows. He couldn't imagine losin' his boy.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly.

He shrugged a shoulder. He didn't know if he was or not. He hadn't seen the woman in two years. He knew 'Chonne didn't care for her, but she also knew this was hard for him. Li'l ass kicker. Shit. She was just a baby. He knew 'Chonne was takin' that news hard. Why she held onto Jasper.

They reached the Castle, told Tammy Jenkins, who was at the gate, everythin' was good. "I'mma…gonna take Jasper down to see Spot."

She kissed him and their son before heading to the keep.

* * *

Michonne reached their room and laid on the bed. When she saw Rick and Carl with those people up by Willow Grove she didn't know what to think. How had they found them? Daryl had told her he threw the brochures on the ground and left. They didn't have one for 'Days of Yore' because she'd taken it out. Then Tony and Ash had introduced themselves as the leaders of the place and Rick didn't say one word.

Carl, she could tell, wanted to say something, but that Ash had whipped her head around and must have told him to wait. She really wanted to kick Sasha's ass for shooting at Daryl. When she didn't see Carol she didn't care. When she didn't see Judith she figured they'd left her up in Willow Grove. Hearing that she didn't make it made her heart hurt. Seeing Tsula come in with Jasper had settled her down a little. She couldn't lose another child.

She sympathized with Rick. She really did. Losing her child had made her crazy. It must have knocked the crazy right out of him and that was sad. She'd lost people before. They all had. Losing people was hard and it hurt, but losing a baby? She wept into her pillow.

* * *

"Never liked talkin' to people, Jasper, but I got to get it off my chest," he told his sleeping son. They were in the barn, Spot was munching on hay and it was quiet. It was hardly ever this quiet in here. Anywhere really. Bein' here was like the prison, but…more.

"A man I used to know, called me his brother, showed at the stupid party today. The one I didn't wanna go to, but we kinda had to go to. He kicked me out of the place I was before here. He was there with most of the rest of our old group. Gave us some bad news." Daryl put Jasper on his chest and rubbed his back. "A little girl, I called her li'l ass kicker 'cause her momma died givin' birth to her and she lived. Her real name was Judith. She was killed by some dicks. Shit, she couldna been older than you. Pretty girl. Quiet." Jasper wiggled around a little and Daryl settled him back down. "Another lady, I'd been with her since the beginnin' of this shit, I found out she died to." He sniffed. "She had a little girl named Sophia. We lost her in a herd back when this shit first started. I spent days lookin' for her. Found her in a barn. She was a walker. Carol, that was her name, I don't know. She took it hard. We went through a lot together." He wiped his eyes and put his head on his son's. "This world sucks, Jasper. We're lucky. I'm lucky. I got a good place to live. I got your momma. I got you. I got friends."

He didn't know how long they stayed down there but it was close to dark when he decided to go check on 'Chonne. He wiped his eyes again, stood up and left the stall. When he reached their room he opened the door quietly and saw 'Chonne was laying down, still dressed in what she called 'her advisor clothes'. Tight black jeans, a tight purple shirt with her boots beside the bed. Normal outside the walls wear.

He put Jasper in bed, took off his boots and laid down with her. She moved into his arms and put her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry about Carol," she whispered.

He shrugged. "Me, too. I, uh, guess I thought we'd go back one day. Just to see how they were. Carol and Carl anyway." He kissed her head. "I'm sorry li'l ass kicker didn't make it."

"Me, too. I always thought."

"Yeah, but this world sucks, 'Chonne."

"We did good."

"I hope Rick and them do good up there. Maybe Rick not bein' in charge is better for him. Better for Carl."

"He's going to want to talk to you," she murmured after a bit.

"I know. I can't. Not yet."

"I love you, Daryl."

He held her tight.

* * *

"Did you say good bye to Michonne and Daryl and can we go visit?" Carl asked him as they headed to their rooms.

"There were a lot of people there, Carl. I didn't get a chance. I think we need to wait for a visit."

Carl frowned.

"Did you have fun? With Donny?"

"Yeah. He's cool. Jenny, Rand's daughter, she's cool, too. We played darts. She taught me how to throw a knife." He grinned up at Rick.

"What?" Rick raised his voice and stopped outside Carl's room.

"She taught me how to throw a knife. I guess Rand taught her."

"Well, shit," he muttered.

"She says I need to practice." Carl rolled his eyes.

"Great," Rick whispered. "What about Donny?"

"He knew, too. Daria said that we could meet up at the next ice cream social. What's an ice cream social?"

Now he laughed. "Ah, it's an old fashioned term for meet and greet."

"She said we could be pen pals. The patrol will deliver letters."

"How do you know?"

"I guess Blue Mountain trades with The Fort. They send letters to each other."

"Huh," he grunted. It made sense. They could be like the Pony Express. They checked in with all the communities and they helped Crazy Ass by introducing them to The Training Grounds. "I'm sorry, son."

Carl hugged him. "Don't be sorry, Dad. It happened. I'll always miss Judith."

"Me, too."

"But it wasn't your fault. Shit happened. Just don't try to take this place over. I think Tony and Ash would kill you." Carl pulled away and wiped his eyes. "I love you. I can't lose you."

"You won't."

"We'll visit or something," Carl smiled up at him. His son was getting big because he didn't have to look up too far. He took the Sheriff's hat off Carl's head and ruffled his hair.

"We'll visit."

* * *

Glenn couldn't believe how things went back to normal although everyone seemed to be a little happier. He looked at Maria. Some of them anyway. Maggie was just full of plans. He'd find her, Ash and Tony making plans or in the living room going over books on greenhouses and container gardening. Tony and Ash were gearing up for winter which meant more canning and planning for next years' crops. Hannah and Dave shopped antique stores for old fashioned sewing machines which excited Betty. Glenn didn't know why she hadn't asked for one before. Andrew, Hector and Don did another shopping trip to the houses close to them, looking for smokers. The meet and greet seemed to kick everyone into gear. Crazy Ass was energized. He wished this would have happened in Hilltop or Alexandria.

Maybe if Deanna hadn't tried living in the past she could have done this. He shuddered. Maybe not. They might have run into the Saviors earlier. It was bad before Carol and Maggie had their run in with them. If the Saviors had found them sooner? He couldn't imagine what it would have been like. Deanna and Reg wouldn't have survived it. They barely did and they lost more people. Until they came here. He took a breath and let it out as he picked some little weeds in the garden. It was in the past but not forgotten. They had a good life now.

* * *

They were in their room after another night of her lookin' through books, her and Ash and Tony decidin' on what to grow next year with the greenhouses they were gonna try and make when Glenn stopped her fidgeting with her wine glass.

"Did you want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" she feigned curiosity. Maggie knew what he wanted to talk about. Daryl and Michonne and the dinner.

Glenn looked at her like he was humoring her. She didn't like it. She put her head down on the table. "I'm mad. Pissed. Sad. Hurt."

She could feel him rubbing her arm. "Me, too."

She sat up and put her chin in her hand. "I just." She huffed. "I can understand them being mad. I can. I can't understand Michonne and her just givin' up on us. She didn't even ask. She didn't seem bothered hearin' Judith was killed. Carol. Alexandria was lost. We'd been through so much together, it's like she threw it away or somethin'," she ended in a whisper. "That time in the prison. I thought we were friends." she wiped her watery eyes. Glenn leaned over and kissed her hair.

He laid his head on hers. "We were friends, Maggie," he assured her quietly. "Even though she wasn't there, you know what I mean? She was involved with us. Yeah, she wasn't there a lot, until the end, but she always brought things back. And not just for Carl and Rick. I think…it was a shock to her, to them, to see us. It was a shock to us."

"Yeah," she sighed.

"It was a shock. Personally, I thought they thought they'd never see us again. We'd be happy and safe in Alexandria. If she knew what was going to happen I think her and Daryl would have knocked Rick out _again_ and dragged him out of there."

She sat up making him move and squeezed his hand. "I think so, too, Glenn. I really do. I hope so anyway. It was nice to see them. They look happy."

Glenn widened his eyes in bewilderment. "They have a son. I can't believe Daryl's a dad."

Maggie giggled a little. "I bet he's a good dad." She kissed Glenn on the lips. "Not as good as you're gonna be."

* * *

"Michonne and Daryl together was a shock," Aaron commented to Sasha as they hung their laundry. Crazy Ass had dryers but it was nice out so they were hanging the community wash.

Sasha coughed. "Yeah. I thought Daryl liked Carol. Or he was gay."

"I thought he was gay," he replied. He hadn't known Daryl long but he never seemed, to him or Eric, particularly interested in Carol romantically. Anyone really. Of course, little by little either Glenn, Rick, Maggie or Carl told him about the prison and the cannibals; he could understand romance wasn't really a priority. After they were gone he didn't really think about it. Hell, he didn't think about much other than trying to stay alive and how much he missed Eric.

"I can't believe that woman. They didn't even ask," she bit out.

"Rick wasn't too specific, Sasha. He said back east. Now I wonder why Tony and Ash didn't ask more questions."

"East of the mountains. It wasn't near here or the patrol would have known about it. Which is all we cared about," Tony's voice came from behind them. "Like I said, all of you looked pretty beaten down when you got here." They both turned and saw the man standing there with a frown. "Did it matter? The only thing we were interested in was faces, so we could prepare for those people."

Aaron grunted. "I guess not."

"I'm not here to spy on you, but I'm getting together the list of people that want to do patrol. Are either of you interested?"

"I'd like to do one," Sasha volunteered.

"Maybe."

"Fine. We're putting it together and we'll let people choose first."

* * *

Ash was going over the list she and Tony had made for patrol. She knew Tony would lay out the rules they'd decided on at dinner. Anyone on watch would be told those rules when they got off. She walked the fence and her head was still swimming with the information on the other communities they'd gotten at the meet and greet. Pauline had introduced her husband and he'd given a rather short lesson on drying food they were going to try and put into practice. The Training Grounds and The Fort had built a smokehouses for drying meat, and those were on the shopping list. The Castle had greenhouses they used to grow some fruits and vegetables year round. Maggie had dived right into that, along with container gardening like Blue Mountain. She and Tony had given their plans for brick ovens and Linda was going to put one up. Tony had offered for them to come by and check it out if she wanted.

She and Tony decided no couples on patrol. The Training Grounds and Blue Mountain weren't going to allow it, but The Fort would. When Rand had mentioned their maternity policy she was impressed. As were Pauline and Linda. They were women, though, and must have had kids at one time. Before maternity policies were hit and miss depending on where you worked. She remembered the city only allowing three months for the women and the men weren't given any time off unless they had vacation. Her friend and fellow EMT Hilda's husband worked for some software firm and he got a month off. They decided six months for both parents. It was a good compromise.

She couldn't wait for the next one.

* * *

Him and 'Chonne went back to what they usually did at the Castle. Watch, farms, classes and takin' care of Jasper. A few times they talked, on the sofa, about Alexandria and Judith. Rick and Carl. Glenn and Maggie. Not so much Sasha, 'Chonne still wanted to kick her ass, Aaron and Abraham.

Rand didn't ask them a damn thing about the dinner and why they'd left and it was makin' him…antsy. If it'd been Rick he'd've been all over Daryl wantin' to know what the hell. 'Course, the last time he saw Rick he'd been crazy. Daryl remembered how serious the man had been about killin' him if he came back. The man he'd seen at the party was a different man. He reminded Daryl how Rick had been when he got over Lori dying at the prison, if a little sadder. Daryl couldn't blame him for it.

When Jasper was born Daryl couldn't imagine losin' him. He couldn't imagine the pain 'Chonne had gone through when she lost Andre. Maybe because he didn't know Andre. But he knew Judith and it hurt. A lot. Different from Carol. Kids were different. He didn't really know Sophia much, but when she came out of Hershel's barn it felt…wrong. Otis shoulda put her down right away. But li'l ass kicker, he'd been there when she'd been born. Spent time with her when Beth needed to do somethin' for Hershel or Carol. He didn't mind watchin' her or feedin' her, but he'd refused to change her diaper. He never imagined she wouldn't make it. Not with Rick being willin' to take over another place.

Carol. He was pissed off at her and angry Rick didn't make her stay in Alexandria. She should've stayed with the group. It hurt she didn't make it. He was glad Abraham put her down, although he wouldn't tell the man. Sometimes he didn't know how he felt about Carol. He thought he lost her at the prison when he found out she killed Karen and David. Would she have killed li'l ass kicker if she'd gotten the flu? She changed after Sophia. She was dead now and there was nothin' that could change it.

After talkin' more, they decided to tell Rand since she wasn't askin' any questions. Michonne didn't think it was necessary, but he was afraid Rick might try somethin' and he needed to protect them.

"Gotta minute?" They finally tracked her down at one of the greenhouses.

"What's up?" she asked as she pulled on some gloves.

"It's what happened at the party," he started. "Those people."

"Michonne told me you knew them. No one died. We're good."

Daryl rolled his eyes. Michonne bumped him with her shoulder, a knowing smile on her face.

"Uh, Rick, he used to run Alexandria. He kicked me out."

The woman stopped and stared at them wide eyed. "Who was that?"

"The older white man with the beard," 'Chonne answered.

* * *

"Not to sound like an ass or anything," Rand prefaced, "but will the fact that you were kicked out of this Alexandria place by one of the Bunker's residents be an impediment to working with them in the future?" she asked as they were looking over the hemp plants in the greenhouse. After Daryl's announcement Rand had stared for a few seconds then got back to work.

Those plants were the current important project of the Castle. It had taken a lot of work to find hemp plants that had been used for industrial production. The Castle was hoping to start reaping some of the rewards from the specialized run to Tennessee. It seemed Rand had her priorities and her and Daryl's past wasn't a big concern for her.

Daryl shrugged and shot her a look. "No," Michonne replied.

The woman raised her eyebrows before leaning against one of the pillars. "Do I need to kick someone's ass?"

Michonne laughed a little. "No, we'll be fine."

Rand grunted. "Huh." She shook her head a little. "Okay. Again, I'm glad you're here, Daryl. Tony and Ash were asking a lot of questions on how we do things here. All of the communities actually. I'm kind of frightened of them. How the hell were they doing things? You know what? It's none of our business," she snorted.

"You ain't gonna ask more questions?" Daryl looked at her.

"Nope. It's none of my business. Look, all I care about is if you can get along with those people. If those people upset you, we'll cut them off. I don't give a shit."

"We're fine," Michonne insisted.

"If there comes a time you're not fine, tell me. I'll figure something out. Even if it's moving those people to another place far away from here."

"You'd do that?" Daryl gaped at her.

"Why wouldn't I?" Rand frowned. "Right now those people aren't causing us any problems. Kicking you out was stupid, but I wasn't there and don't know what happened. If you want to tell me, I'll listen. If they cause you problems, they go. Unless they're dicks and then they're dead."

Michonne wasn't surprised. Rand, while being their friend, was very practical. Rick wasn't a dick by her definition, as far as she knew, so there wasn't a reason to kill him. If he was just an irritant she'd move him, like she threatened to do with Jonathan Wilmer.

Daryl sometimes had difficulties when someone was willing to do something for him without asking. Moving someone, a group, would be a big thing. He'd lived most of his life with abusive parents and Merle. Two years of being with people that accepted him as he was, valuing his input and treating him as important wasn't enough to erase the years he'd spent being made to feel unimportant and worthless. He was, she thought, getting used to it.


	19. Chapter 19

Sasha looked over at Tony as he drove to the Castle. She knew Ash was a little hesitant about the place after Rick told them the truth why Michonne left and Daryl was kicked out. They didn't agree or disagree with Rick. Tony admitted they hadn't been there and they hadn't gone through what her group had gone through though.

Sasha was and wasn't sorry she shot at Daryl. Michonne. She couldn't believe that woman. They didn't ask. Abraham's words replayed themselves as she looked out the passenger window.

 _'They didn't know, Sasha. Would you have asked? They thought we were still in Alexandria. It doesn't matter. This?' he pointed up at their ceiling indicating Crazy Ass. 'This is what matters.'_

He was right, it didn't matter. As Michonne pointed out, they hadn't seen each other in two years. They weren't important anymore. Bitch. Not that Sasha spared them a thought after Daryl took off. They were dealing with the Alexandrians, the Wolves and the Saviors. She guessed Michonne and Daryl weren't important to them either. No one talked about them after they left. She was sure Carl missed Michonne, but as far as she knew no one else did.

She kind of hoped her and Abraham would have done this trip together, but Tony and Ash decided no couples, unlike The Castle. A lot of new ideas and a few new rules were discussed during the two weeks since the meet and greet. Smokehouses, she rolled her eyes. It would be better than butchering in the winter, she liked that part of it.

"What are you going to do if the Castle cuts us off?"

Tony shrugged. "I don't think they will, but if they do? You're with us. We'll figure something out."

They were with a group. She relaxed.

* * *

Tony was ninety percent sure The Castle wouldn't cut them off. The impression he got from Rand was cooperation for survival. He was also ninety percent sure he would have taken over Alexandria or given this Deanna woman lessons in real life. Especially if he'd gone through half the shit Rick and his group had gone through. He'd seen some of the worst people could do and that was before this shit.

He could see why Rick wouldn't blurt out something like that. It'd give leaders of whatever community they'd ended up in food for thought if it didn't make the community outright reject or kill them. It would have made him and Ash pause. They still would have taken them in, if only for Carl, but doubled down on the probation period. They were residents of the Crazy Ass Bunker now and contributed like all the others. He and Ash would figure something out if the Castle had problems with Rick.

He pulled up to the fence and parked the car. An older white male let them in and Tony wasn't surprised to see someone from Blue Mountain and someone from the Training Grounds. He needed to get with Linda about carpooling with her. As usual Rand was standing with her knights.

"Tony," she greeted.

"Rand. Adrian. Waya. Seth," he acknowledged.

"Martina from Blue Mountain," she pointed to the petite Hispanic female with a sword on her back. He looked at his machete. Maybe he needed to get a damn sword. "Julian from the Training Grounds," she pointed to a thin light skinned black male. "Don from the Fort," she pointed to an older gray haired black male. "Luis, Steven, Laura, Choon-Hee, Albert and Darcy," she pointed to a mid-thirties Hispanic male, a late twenties white male, a late twenties white female, an early twenties Asian female, an early forties white male and a late twenties Indian female. "We'll see you in a few weeks."

Tony shook his head and followed Luis and the others to start patrol. During the day, when they were patrolling it was still no chatter, but the nights were a lot looser. The 'meet and greet' apparently broke the ice. Martina was chatting with Laura and Luis. Julian was talking to Don, Albert and Sasha. He spent time with Steven while Darcy and Choon-Hee were on watch. It was much more relaxed than the first time they'd gone out. Rand was a smart woman.

* * *

Sasha was breathing hard. They really busted ass. They had to sit out a small herd on the way to the Training Grounds, but other than a few walkers they didn't see anyone. Letters were delivered and more trades were arranged. She wondered if they could have done this at Alexandria if the Saviors hadn't shown up. Maggie might have tried something like this. The trading they had done with Hilltop and The Kingdom was more ad hoc, in her mind. The Castle was actively encouraging trading between five communities, until they found more.

She asked a few questions about Michonne and Daryl to the other Castle residents. They were liked by almost everyone and everyone respected the shit out of Rand and the knights. Living in the Castle was a bonus compared to some of the places they'd stayed in prior to being recruited. Warehouses sounded better than Alexandria. At least they knew what the hell.

She appreciated The Castle had planned this. Every place they stayed at night was barricaded in some way with easy access to exits. The beds were comfortable and there was food. Not the amount she was used to eating, but better than she expected. The grills were nice and convenient. They didn't use them at every stop, but a few of them. She wanted to laugh when Tony went with Don and Laura so he could learn to hunt. He came back empty handed and ribbed him about spending time with Rick. They didn't spend a lot of time at Crazy Ass, just stopped in and spoke to Ash. Laura and Albert were leading this particular patrol, so they handled any other questions or trade offers between the communities. It wasn't long before they were heading back to the Castle. She could do this again. Not every month, but she could do it again.

When they got back to The Castle someone let them in and Rand was the only one waiting. She thanked Blue Mountain, The Training Grounds, The Crazy Ass Bunker and The Fort before telling them she'd see them in two weeks at the next potluck and to be safe on the way home. Sasha waited until everyone but Tony left to approach the woman.

"Here." She gave Rand the envelope Carl had given her before they left to finish the patrol. "It's for Michonne and Daryl."

The woman narrowed her eyes and accepted it before her and Tony left to go home. She smiled the entire way back. She was going home to her family and friends.

* * *

Abraham was standing by the gate seven days after the patrol left, waiting on Sash. He wondered if this is what Ellen went through every time he'd been deployed. When he got back she would always be waiting at the airport with the kids. They'd run toward him and he picked them up and swung them around. All of them. After they put the kids to bed they'd make love. It was the best damn time Abraham ever had when he came home. They'd fall back into their routine. He'd go to the base, work and come home to dinner on the table.

He realized, now, how much waiting and worrying Ellen and the kids, when they got older, did. It wasn't better for him just because he'd done a patrol. Who the hell knew who would be going? He hadn't done it with many of them and the other two communities were sending people. He and Sash didn't spend too much time mingling with the others at the meet and greet. After that dinner with Michonne and Daryl they'd sat by themselves and watched everyone else. It was better than the last party he'd gone to.

He wouldn't go so far as to say he was happy with what happened in Alexandria and he'd love to kill that prick Simon. Negan, too. Asshole. They ended up in a better place. They should have left. They didn't. Shit happened. He grinned his best shit eating grin when Sasha walked through the gate.

* * *

Rick smiled as he saw the reunion between Sasha and Abraham. It was nice they were together. He'd made Carl promise to wait to interrogate Sasha about the letter he sent Michonne. He gave them as much grief as everybody when they finally showed up for dinner. Abraham bowed while Sasha rolled her eyes before heading for the food. Tony had already told them nothing exciting happened when they were out, but Sasha was mobbed by the women about patrol, especially Lisa. She was anxious to get out there.

Rick was happy stayin' right where he was. They'd taken over the living room once again after everybody else drifted away. He raised his glass in a toast.

"To Sasha and Abraham."

"To Sasha and Abraham," Glenn, Maggie, Aaron and Jesus echoed.

After taking a sip of his wine Glenn stood.

"I'd like to propose a toast," he raised his glass. "To Rick Grimes. Rick," Glenn turned to him. "When I first met you I didn't think you were going to make it. Dumbass," he chuckled. Rick did the same. "You're a good man, Rick. We've been through a lot. Together and apart. But one thing you never did was quit. I'm glad to call you my friend."

"Hear, hear," Maggie motioned with her glass. The rest raised theirs in solidarity.

After Sasha recounted her patrol experience, Abraham and Jesus agreeing whole-heartedly those people hauled ass, they went to bed. Rick checked on Carl and found him sleeping, bringing a smile to his face.

* * *

A/N: Maggie. First, I would like to thank you, everyone really, that is still showing interest in this story. Second, thank you for the review.

I'm sitting here trying to respond and I don't think I'll do a good job, but here goes. Yes, they're all living in a bubble. They like the bubble because it doesn't force them to see what their actions have done to those affected by them. In my headcannon for this universe, they never talked about Rick taking over and kicking Daryl out, because they knew, deep down, it was wrong.

Michonne is also living in a bubble. Yes, Carol saved her and Daryl, but she was more pissed at the lying and taking over than remembering any good actions Carol had taken to protect the group. Just like Michonne is, or was, angry at Rick and dismisses what he'd done for her and Daryl. Because she's just done with the group (she has been for years) Michonne doesn't really care what she did in the past for Rick and the others. She remembers the shit he did to her, like wanting to turn her over to the Governor. She has a good life with Daryl now and that's her focus.

I was surprised Carol died early in the comics. I wikied them after I started watching the show. I felt she needed to go. I liked her progression as a person on the show, but when they discussed taking over Alexandria I stopped liking her then. Basically, I stopped liking the show and stopped watching. I didn't go back and re-watch a lot of The Walking Dead when I was writing these stories, so some events that happened and weren't addressed is because I honestly forgot about them. Any events alluded to by Rick and company after season five I don't know anything about and are taken from the comics.

As far as Judith goes, in the comics she died in the prison. I carried it over to this story.

In my semi-planned fourth story (maybe I'll write it one day) they all sit down had have a conversation about it all. Basically, it's them discussing everything that happened with some interaction from my gal Rand and her knights. Sasha and Abe get knocked down a peg or two.

A lot of the ideas for surviving; the hemp, drying food, etc. I found on prepper websites. The patrol was something I thought up. It made sense. You'd want to know who's around, especially when the Governor had been your next door neighbor and you didn't even know it.

I'm glad you're enjoying these stories. I have another one in this AU that's finished and I will probably post it. I've been over The Walking Dead for a while, but I hate not finishing anything and I really hate when I start to read a story and it's never finished. I re-did Wish and am posting it on AO3 so I could get a feel for that website. But honestly? I think I'm done. Still, enjoy the stories.

Regards,

VFFW


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